UN envoy blasts Canada for 'self-righteous' attitude over hunger, poverty

Governments seem to have huge budgets for what? Where does the money go? Why do they say that when you are against higher taxes, you don't care about the poor, when very little of the tax money goes to the poor at any rate? Are they poor because working full time on minmum wage puts you in a tax bracket, where you have to pay the salaries of people making twice and three times what you are?

Ontario spends what, $120 billion. If 1,000,000 are on welfare, at $6,000 a year, that is only $6 billion. Looks like 5 or 10% of Ontario money goes to the poor. I guess it is more important to provide health care for your parents and education for your kids. On top of that Ottawa spends what, $80 billion (out of $220 - thanks Mr. Harper for having the biggest government in Ottawa's history). What do the poor get out of that? $60 every 3 months or something?

I suppose YOUR priorities are more important than the poor. Which is why we keep electing you all the time. If 85% are not poor, and 15% are poor, that means that the 85% outvotes the 15% (if the poor ever voted anyway). Maybe if the poor want more political representation, they should become the majority. You first!

UN report bolsters Canada's right to food movement

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Food is a fundamental human right, recognized under international law in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enshrined in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

According to the Special Rapporteur, the right to food is, "The right to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensure a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear."

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Through an array of stories and statistics emerged a complex web of connections between housing, employment, transportation, poverty, nutrition, health and food, condemning food charity as an inadequate response to hunger and food insecurity.

Food banks, which arose as a stop-gap measure in the early 1980s in Canada, are not a solution to the systemic problems which prevent a person from accessing healthy affordable food. Though food banks in Canada attempt to dismantle the stigma associated with food charity through innovative programming and partnerships, and do so with grace, food is an entitlement and not a privilege, as Mr. De Schutter firmly reminded the assembly in his closing remarks.

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The most striking part of the evening's events were images of a classroom in Fort Albany of grade two students gathered around an open caribou, learning culturally-specific student nutrition skills. This was part of a presentation by the community's food security coalition, Netaweketata, who in collaboration with the True North Community Co-op in Thunder Bay and FoodShare in Toronto - utilizing the Nutrition North subsidy - are bringing fresh, healthy, affordable food to their remote community. While this is a highly commendable initiative, it begs the question, where is the government in protecting the right to food of this community and so many others?

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The Special Rapporteur strongly recommends a national right to food strategy for Canada, which currently lacks a food policy or strategy at the national level, or even at the provincial and territorial levels. His statement indicates he is heartened by the civil society engagement in the right to food movement, citing such bodies as food policy councils and food security organizations, and he "welcomes and strongly encourages such participatory models of food system management."

Among his specific recommendations, the Special Rapporteur indicates "social assistance levels need to be increased immediately to correspond to the costs of basic necessities," that the minimum wage level should be a ‘living wage,' and that food adequacy through programs targeting health promotion must be more urgently addressed, given that this is a society where malnutrition from too much or unhealthy foods is as much of a concern as malnutrition from too little food.

De Schutter voices concerns about the dismantled Canadian Wheat Board, structural barriers to institutional procurement of local food, and calls for a thriving small-scale farming sector. Finally, his report calls for a reform to the Nutrition North Canada program and "a structural approach to tackling the socio-economic and cultural barriers to opportunities for those living on reserves that result in their not enjoying fully their right to adequate food." He also regretted that neither the federal Government nor the provinces consider that they "have a responsibility to support off-reserve Aboriginal peoples in overcoming the structural discrimination they face."

Superb piece. RTFA.

wtg Niki.

she shoulda also asked Leona to apologize to all the "academics" in Canada. 'cause according to Leona being one is a negative. she sounded like GWB. there's a special place for actions like hers. she will not be returning to Ottawa after next election.

I have to include myself.

[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/inuit-organize-widespread-p... organize widespread protest over hunger, food cost[/url]

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[b]Weeks after the federal government dismissed concerns from a United Nations representative about food insecurity in Canada’s North, turnout at the protest could be impressive. More than 10,000 people have joined the Feed My Family site — over a third of Nunavut’s entire population.[/b]

“Food insecurity is so prevalent,” said Nunavut’s territorial nutritionist, Jennifer Wakegijig, who tabled a report on the issue this week in the Nunavut legislature.

It found nearly three-quarters of Inuit preschoolers live in food-insecure homes. Half of youths 11 to 15 years old sometimes go to bed hungry. Two-thirds of Inuit parents also told a McGill University survey that they sometimes ran out of food and couldn’t afford more.

“Every Inuit in Nunavut knows someone in their family or in their community that is hungry that day,” said Ms. Papatsie.

Leona Aglukkaq wrote:

I took the opportunity to educate [Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food] about Canada’s North and Aboriginal people that depend on the wildlife that they hunt every day for food security.

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Nunavut’s larder of “country food” — caribou, seals, fish and other animals — is there for the taking, but [b]only if people can afford the snowmobiles, gas, rifles, ammunition and gear[/b] needed to travel safely. Mr. Elliott estimates hunting costs about $150 a day.

Canada’s national Inuit group, Inuit Tapirisat Kanatami, reports 42 per cent of Inuit say hunting is too expensive.

Freedom 55 wrote:

Thanks for posting that, CF.

 

Does anyone remember how smug some Canadians felt when the Bush administration would say stupid shit?

Yes. And now they ridicule Obama who has pretty much carried out the king dubya agenda to a tee. It's a cosmetic government in Warshington since 1947. It's a single party with two right wings. Charade they are.