The Latest

Vibrant Communities Working to Involve Cities in “Opportunity for All”

The Tamarack Institute’s Vibrant Communities (VC) is excited to be working to identify and illuminate ways that community-based organizations and cities can be active participants in “Opportunity for All - Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy.”

During the development of the strategy, the Cities Reducing Poverty network worked with Employment and Social Development Canada to support data collection and consultations. For example, Vibrant Communities and the Cities Reducing Poverty network partnered with Employment and Social Development Canada to host 33 community conversations from coast to coast. Cities Reducing Poverty members and the Tamarack Institute also submitted written submissions during the consultation period. We were excited to see the results of these consultations and their lessons in both the Federal What We Heard report and the strategy itself. 

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Cities Reducing Poverty Policy Digest: January 2019

This is the January 2019 edition of the Cities Reducing Poverty Policy Digest, which aims to provide you with timely poverty-related policy updates and resources from across Canada.

Key highlights include the deadlines for provincial and federal consultations, applications for the Federal National Advisory Council on Poverty, and the City of Edmonton adopting a living wage policy.

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2019 Begins with New Developments in Poverty Reduction

January 2019 is turning into an active time for poverty reduction in Canada at the Federal level. The Minister has been making announcements about the impact of new and ongoing government programs and deadlines for applications and submissions related to the national poverty reduction strategy are coming up.

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Tamarack's New Partnership with ESDC

At the end of November, the Tamarack Institute was joined by local partners in Kitchener-Waterloo to announce our new 4-year, $2 million partnership with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). The event was hosted with the full Tamarack family with kind words from Marcus Shantz, the president of Conrad Grebel University College, and Karen Redman, the incoming chair of the Region of Waterloo. It was a great opportunity to reflect on our work and to hear from our Co-CEOs, Paul Born and Liz Weaver, about what this new partnership will mean for how Tamarack supports community leaders.

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Canada Begins Consultations on Poverty Measure

Statistics Canada is engaging in a consultation until January 31, 2019 to improve on the Market Basket Measure (MBM) as a tool to measure poverty in Canada.

In August, the Federal Government launched Canada’s first poverty reduction strategy “Opportunity for All,” focused on creating a Canada without poverty. Importantly, the strategy did not just provide tools for reducing poverty, but instead set targets to reduce the rate of poverty by 50% by 2030.

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Kitchener’s Love My Hood

The City of Kitchener recently received an award for planning excellence from the Canadian Institute of Planners. Kitchener’s Love My Hood strategy was awarded the prize for New and Emerging Planning initiatives for its innovative and unique methodology - providing small groups of residents the tools and permission to work with their community to formulate an action plan and make decisions.

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