Colour of Poverty

OCASI collaborated with Colour of Poverty Campaign/Colour of Change Network (COP-COC), Metro Toronto Chinese & South East Asian Legal Clinic (MTCSALC) and South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO) on a Joint Submission to the Committee on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The submission was prepared with respect to the Committee's upcoming review of Canada at its 65th Session (24 Oct 2016 - 18 Nov 2016).

The Joint Submission highlighted the following concerns:

For Immediate Release

Racialized Community Coalition Launches Legislative Framework for the Ontario Anti-Racism Directorate

October 4, 2016 / Toronto / On this day of Sisters in Spirit Vigils held across the country to honour missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Colour of Poverty - Colour of Change (COP – COC) launched a legislative framework that it has proposed to the Ontario Government, in order to support and strengthen the mandate of the Anti-Racism Directorate (ARD).

Colour of Poverty - Colour of Change ( July 11, 2016 ) - The Government of Ontario has committed to creating an Anti-Racism Directorate (ARD). It is now engaging in a series of community dialogues with the public to provide feedback on the ARD’s mandate, and identify priority areas of the directorate’s work, to apply an anti-racism perspective to all government policies, practices, programs and services.

Colour of Poverty - Colour of Change on Tuesday October 4, 2016, launched a legislative framework that it has proposed to the Ontario Government, in order to support and strengthen the mandate of the Anti-Racism Directorate (ARD). Read below for the proposed draft legislation, or scroll down for the document in PDF format.

An Act respecting Anti-Racism in Ontario

Preamble

Open Letter to Prime Minister on Racial and Gender Equality in the Senate of Canada

December 29, 2015

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa Ontario K1A0A6

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,

OCASI responded to the Gender Wage Gap Strategy Consultation undertaken by the Government of Ontario by highlighting the exclusion experienced by racialized immigrant and refugee women, and making six recommendations for systemic change.

OCASI made the following recommendations:

Colour of Poverty - Colour of Change (COP-COC) commends the Ontario Government for its ongoing commitment to poverty reduction, expressed through the release of its second Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), Realizing Our Potential – Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy (2014-2019) on September 3, 2014. In it the Government reaffirmed its commitment to “reducing poverty among children and youth through targeted investments and supports”, and adds a new focus on ending homelessness while moving towards employment and income security, particularly for “vulnerable populations”.

A Community Dialogue on Reparations and Reconciliation
November 12, 2013, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Osgoode Professional Development
1 Dundas Street West, Suite 2602, Toronto, Ontario

The Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario released its final report at the end of October 2012. Frances Lankin and Dr. Munir Sheikh were appointed to the Commission in November 2010 to review Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). The Commission was appointed as part of a commitment by the provincial government in its 2008 Poverty Reduction Strategy, to review social assistance.

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