Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, all, for the opportunity to be here with you today.

My name is Darlene O'Leary. I'm the socio-economic policy analyst with Citizens for Public Justice. Citizens for Public Justice, or CPJ, is a national, faith-based charitable organization that works on Canadian public policy, primarily in the areas of poverty eradication in Canada, ecological justice and refugee rights.

CPJ engages in networks of organizations working on public policy, both secular and faith-based. With our partners, Canada without Poverty, we co-lead Dignity for All, a national campaign for a poverty-free Canada. For the past decade, CPJ and the Dignity for All campaign have called for the creation of a comprehensive and legislated national anti-poverty plan for Canada. Our campaign has been endorsed by close to 800 organizations and over 12,000 individuals across the country. Today I'll speak specifically about the part of Bill C-97 that includes division 20, the poverty reduction act.

In an open letter sent to the honourable Minister Jean-Yves Duclos in February, sponsored by CPJ, Canada without Poverty and Campaign 2000 and signed by over 500 organizations and individuals, we outlined our position on the poverty reduction act and made specific recommendations to strengthen the legislation. As you know, this act, previously Bill C-87, was tabled in Parliament and went to second reading before being added without amendments to the budget implementation act.

We recommend that the poverty reduction act reflect Canada's international human rights commitments, including the commitment that Canada has made in adopting the United Nations sustainable development goals. The targets and timelines identified currently in the legislation reflect the minimum goals set out by the SDGs to reduce poverty rates by 20% by 2020 and by 50% by 2030.

ESDC is using the 2015 market basket measure rates as a starting point for these targets. However, the first SDG goal to which Canada has committed is no poverty. We recommend that the legislation be amended to reflect this as the ultimate goal with a much more ambitious timeline. Otherwise, we are failing to honour our international commitments and are implicitly claiming that it is acceptable to leave behind those remaining in poverty once the minimum goals are achieved.

We also recommend that the legislation be amended to affirm economic and social rights as ratified by Canada in international human rights law.

In addition, the legislation recognizes the new official poverty line as a market basket measure, or MBM. While the legislation indicates that the MBM be subject to regular review, it should ensure that review takes place no longer than every three years. It should also include public input to ensure that the costing of items identified as part of the basket of necessities reflects the actual costs experienced by low-income households and that the basket include an adequate and appropriate range of costs.

The current MBM base has not been updated since 2011, with a slight adjustment in 2012, though it is currently under review. That means the costs being calculated now, for example, the cost of shelter, are vastly underestimated for some communities. Given that the MBM could now be used to establish eligibility and access to needed programs and benefits for low-income people, regular and public reviews are essential.

The legislation should also recognize that no one measure of low income or costs captures the full reality of poverty. A range of publicly available data sets should be included in assessing progress in achieving targets.

Further, the new national advisory council on poverty is being established to advise and report to the minister and engage with the public in reviewing the progress of the federal poverty reduction strategy. For this council to be effective, it must be independent, adequately resourced and given authority to make recommendations and require remedial action for compliance with economic and social rights. There must be a transparent process for appointment of council members, including establishing criteria for qualifications, such as expertise focused on poverty eradication, people with lived experience of poverty and regional representation.

We recommend that proposed section 11 of the poverty reduction act, which authorizes the dissolution of the council once poverty has been reduced by 50% of 2015 levels, be removed or amended to ensure an ongoing mandate for the council to oversee a goal of sustained poverty eradication.

In addition to this legislation, we hope to see the federal government work in partnership with indigenous governments to co-develop initiatives to ensure accountability in the implementation of remedies for distinctive barriers faced by first nations, Métis and Inuit people living in poverty.

Further elaboration of our recommendations is available in the open letter and in the brief we submitted to the committee to contribute to this study.

Thank you very much for your attention.

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