This timely and thought-provoking webinar featured Scott McAffee and explored the 2025 National Advisory Council on Poverty Annual Report, “We Can Do Better: It Is Not a Safety Net If the Holes Are This Big.” The session examined widening gaps in Canada’s social safety net and the urgent need for bold, community-driven solutions to address poverty across the country.
Scott walked through the report’s key findings, including progress and setbacks on Canada’s poverty reduction targets, barriers to affordability, income security, and access to essential supports, and insights from people with lived and living experience of poverty—particularly Urban Indigenous, Black, and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.
The webinar also highlighted this year’s expanded consultations and the new “Building Out Solutions” roundtable, co-hosted with Tamarack and Campaign2000, which brought local actors together to share what was heard, explore how solutions can scale, and identify ways to translate national recommendations into local action. Designed for policymakers, advocates, service providers, and community leaders, the session offered a meaningful opportunity to engage with the people behind the report and contribute to the conversation on building a more inclusive and effective poverty reduction strategy.
Speakers
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Scott McAffee, Chairperson, National Advisory Council on Poverty
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Jen Casorso, Managing Director, EndPovertyEdmonton
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Maureen Owens, Manager of Communities, Networks for Change, Tamarack Institute
