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Canada Without Poverty is a not for profit organization dedicated to eradicating poverty in Canada. Its mission statement says “Poverty is a violation of human rights. We work to address the structural causes of poverty by raising awareness, educating and inspiring others to support its eradication in Canada”. It is based in Ottawa, and staffed almost exclusively by people who have, or have had, personal experience of poverty. Canada has yet to develop a definitive definition of poverty, which makes it difficult for Canada to act effectively to address the fact that statistically between 10 and 20% or more of Canadians (7 million) can be categorized as living in poverty today. This is what CWP is working to change.

Origins:
Canada Without Poverty (CWP) was founded in 1971 as a registered charity. It was an outgrowth of the Poor People’s Conference which took place in Toronto in 1971, organized by the National Council of Welfare (NCW), under the auspices of the Canadian Minister of National Health and Welfare. The original name of the organization was the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO). This name was changed to Canada Without Poverty (CWP) in 2009. It has had partnerships with the Red Tents Campaign,,Dignity for All: the campaign for a poverty-free Canada, Voices –Voix, and the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition. The charity, from the beginning, was organized to become a main umbrella of nation-wide anti-poverty activists; its mandate is to work at the highest level of government (Federal) to educate and elect leaders to promote legislative change and promote poverty eradication. Beginning in 1973, NAPO presented its first research document on hunger and food costs to the Federal Parliament. It continued, from this first campaign, to address poverty-related issues whether advocating for better health care, higher unemployment insurance benefits, fairer taxation, family benefits, recognition of homelessness and women’s poverty. It has acted as liaison between community groups and the Parliament in power. In the 1990s NAPO began to expand its forums to regional and international discussions about poverty eradication, including concerns about homeless people, women’s poverty issues, wage differentials and the growing attack on the poor, the result of neoliberal shifts towards downsizing of government and social programs. From addressing the UN as an NGO  to co-hosting conferences at the regional and international level, NAPO not only increased its presence but drew powerful connections between situation of poverty in Canada and growing poverty as a result of globalization. In the 1993 it convened a second Poor People’s Conference  and co-hosted a UN Poverty Roundtable in 1998 to deal poverty in the Americas. In the 2000s it published documents including Voices: Women, Poverty and Homelessness in Canada, a study of female homelessness in Canada, and began a national campaign for a new minimum wage.

Mission Statement:
The Mission of Canada Without Poverty (CWP) organization is one that is primarily educational: to educate Canadians about the ‘costs’ of poverty to individuals, communities, society as a whole. These ‘costs’ include financial and ‘human’. CWP works with stakeholders from government, business, community groups, to influence legislative priorities at the Federal level regarding income and social support needs. CPW hold that all Canadians have a right to equality and dignity; and expect social institutions  to uphold the values of caring, responsibility, and accountability based on UN concepts of fundamental human rights. Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor at the Hague International War Tribunals and an Honorary member of the CWP Board of Directors, as, has stated “poverty prevails as the gravest human rights challenge in the world”. In Canada, inequalities of access to social and economic resources contribute significantly to poverty levels across Canada, i.e. those in poverty are often First Nation people, immigrants, and single mothers with children, disabled, those in the lowest-paying jobs, full or part time. People in poverty in Canada more often access food banks, are often homeless, or in low-cost, sub-standard housing; they are reliant on welfare, and face hunger.

Detailed Description of Current Activities and Impacts/Successes:
In 2007 the Federal Government cut the funding to CWP by 55%. This seriously impeded their work. Other anti-poverty groups also experienced funding cuts. (CCIC) a group involved in global poverty reduction and connected to CWP, is threatened with complete funding cuts via Canadian Council for International Co-operation. However, the organization has refused to simply stop operating. This is evident in its current ongoing plans, and its recent (as of 2012) reorganization into two divisions, in order to press for direct advocacy work more effectively. In 2009, Canada Without Poverty’s adopted a new logo that “symbolizes rising above one’s poverty line towards a bright future”.

Organization Restructuring
Two new organizational sectors are Canada Without Poverty/Canada Sans Pauvrete and the CWP Advocacy Network/Reseau de Revendication CSP. While CWP continues to produce reports and liaison with Canadian poverty groups, CWP Advocacy Network is not a charity. Incorporated in 2010, it works in concert with CWP for more effective direct action. The need for greater pressure is evident in the erosion of concern of the Federal government to address poverty .. Poverty deeply impacts individuals, families, society and B costs governments perhaps as much as $80 billion annually. Individually it is characterized by people having to make tough choices between meeting basic needs like deciding whether to eat, buy new shoes, pay the rent etc. Studies have found poverty is associated with poorer health, physical and emotional, alcohol and drug abuse , recidivism in the criminal justice system, class divides that threaten Canadian social stability, and higher early mortality rates among those living in poverty.

Campaigns
CWP and the CWP advocacy network are now involved in a number of significant, comprehensive campaigns including: “Dignity for All: The Campaign for a Poverty-Free Canada”. This is a project hoping to “combat the structural causes of poverty in Canada”. The goal is to pursue legislative changes to create an Act of Parliament which would ensure ongoing federal commitment and accountability mechanisms. This project is supported by over 500 Canadian anti-poverty groups (for example, http://www.acorncanada.org/, and http://www.albertahumanrights.ab.ca/publications/AHRIS/March_9.aspthe Alberta Human Rights Commission)  and over 80 members of parliament. The goal is to increase the number of groups and individuals committed to produce pressure on the government to act for Canadians demanding poverty eradication. The organization was involved in writing Bill, Bill C-545 (An Act to eliminate poverty in Canada). However, this bill died on the floor in 2010, though efforts to bring it before Parliament again are ongoing. A project on youth and homelessness has begun in 2012? with funds raised at the community level. The organization will use ‘on-line social media and traditional media” and approach youth and educators to conduct workshops to gain information on youth perception of human rights, as well as experience of life across Canada in 2010. The goal for this campaign is to raise $100,000 to begin the organization of an ongoing project.

Current Organizational Features:
CWP, a federal-level non-profit, non partisan organization based in Ottawa. Since it lost its funding in 2007, CPW has been working to develop alternative sources of funding including a CWP Circle 500 Plus fundraising drive. It is coming up with new fundraising sources, such as the Poverty & Punchline nights where national comedians entertain and at breaks CWP members solicit funds from the audience. Current and past CPW Board of Directors member are primarily drawn from poverty activists, all of whom have lived in poverty themselves, either as children and/or as adults. In 2012 there are nine board members who live in regions across the country. All continue to work as activists representing various communities from First Nations to immigrant to urban and rural citizens. The Directors are nine in number,. The majority of Directors are women. The current 2012 CEO is well known Ottawa-based anti-poverty advocate Rob Rainer. There is also an Honorary Board, made up of Canadian political leaders including Ed Broadbent, former Federal NDP leader,, former Prime Minister Joe Clark, and former Canadian Supreme Court Justice.Louise Arbour, In 2012, Elizabeth May, the Green Party of Canada leader is an active parliamentary member of the organization. In 2012 EPW employs one full time and two part time employees to fulfill all administrative affairs, including fund raising and organizing the various events and campaigns along with the numerous volunteers.