Social Audit Happenings by Bruce Voogd, ISARC Coordinator
ISARC’s Social Audit is beginning to take shape across the province with the first one already happening in the Waterloo Region on Thursday, February 25. As local planning groups across the province put their plans in place, momentum is building.
The Social Audit will provide a social assessment of the impact of government policy, including its benefits and limitations, on groups of people. It will assess current government policies on social assistance and the Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy.
During the Social Audit, we will to listen to persons with lived experience of poverty and take note of their ideas for improvement, because it is time for their voices to be heard.
We will engage faith groups, non-profit groups, and advocacy organizations to work together at the local level so that people active in providing charity can be re-energized to continue their advocacy work towards poverty elimination.
We will engage religious and civic leaders to listen, to become supportive of anti-poverty measures, and to speak out in their communities. And we will increase pressure on Members of the Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to make poverty elimination even more prominent in the current provincial government agenda and to have poverty elimination on the 2011 election platform for their parties.
Go to www.isarc.ca/socialaudit2010.html to learn all about the Social Audit, to find out when and where the Hearing will take place, and to access updated Guidelines and various resources we have put together. There are new resources being added to the website as they are developed.
If you would like to become a part of the Social Audit in your local area, contact ISARC at info@isarc.ca.
To listen to some of the commentary leading up to the Ontario and federal budgets, you would think our governments were foundering in bankruptcy with no hope of recovery without draconian cuts and widespread belt-tightening.
And of course, according to conservative commentary, it goes without saying that policy luxuries like poverty reduction have to be taken off the table.
Ontario Alternative Budget The Ontario Alternative Budget is a project of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The Ontario Alternative Budget Working Group is a coalition of labour, social action, community and church groups that have come together to develop budget alternatives for Ontario.
As Ontarians and Canadians honour and embrace our country’s rich diversity discrimination, prejudice and racism, and related racial disparities are in fact on the rise, affecting Aboriginal, other ethno-racial, faith-spiritual, cultural as well as other backgrounds, identities, inclinations and heritages.
It takes a village to raise a child Click here to read ISARC’s submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs - January 26, 2010 in London
In from the Margins: A Call to Action to End Poverty - February 25 Toronto Senator Art Eggleton, Chair of Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, will be speaking on at The Empire Club of Canada, Thursday, February 25, 2010, 12pm, Royal York Hotel, Quebec Room (MM Level).
Purchase tickets: $70/$60 for members; tables of 10 $700/$600 for members at www.empireclub.org or by calling 416.364.2878 (press 0). All inquiries should be directed to info@empireclub.org.
Community Justice Camp - live the change you want to see May 9 - 14 In May, the Anglican Diocese of Niagara is hosting a Community Justice Camp, focused on the theme of community development. The camp will be interactive with learning through immersion experiences with local justice partners.
Our diverse religious traditions have different approaches to how we pray for our politicians and government. This new series explores the question from the perspective of our various religious communities. Our latest response is from a Hindu perspective.
How Do We Pray For Our Politicians and Government? - a Hindu perspective By Pandit Suraj Persad, Hindu Chaplain, University of Toronto and Hospital for Sick Children
The Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC) was born out of the hope that together a coalition of faith groups could contribute to new public policies based upon greater justice and dignity for Ontarians marginalized by poverty
ISARC’s Social Audit is beginning to take shape across the province with the first one already happening in the Waterloo Region on Thursday, February 25. As local planning groups across the province put their plans in place, momentum is building.
To listen to some of the commentary leading up to the Ontario and federal budgets, you would think our governments were foundering in bankruptcy with no hope of recovery without draconian cuts and widespread belt-tightening.
As Ontarians and Canadians honour and embrace our country’s rich diversity discrimination, prejudice and racism, and related racial disparities are in fact on the rise, affecting Aboriginal, other ethno-racial, faith-spiritual, cultural as well as other backgrounds, identities, inclinations and heritages.
How Do We Pray For Our Politicians and Government?