Not-for-profit community groups discuss ways of eradicating poverty
Under the format of a mock cabinet meeting having to deal with the issue of poverty in the country and its eventual eradication, representatives of a variety of not-for-profit community groups, some local and others provincial, sat through a two-hour session with Ken Dryden, member of Parliament for York-Centre and former Minister for Social Development, and Brian Murphy, MP for Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.
All through the exercise, participants were to be aware that great ideas have to be borne by a plan that takes into consideration the many facets involved in an activity such as poverty eradication.
Concluding the meeting, Mr. Dryden summarized the session as having put much importance on attitudes to be developed if a government is to eradicate poverty. It must adopt a strong vision capable of outliving the government that has created it. The message must be clear and its proponents seen as believing in it fully.
The message must be based on possibilities for which everyone could be proud. Canadians have done extraordinary endeavors in the past and are still capable more. Such action calls on people’s sense of commitment and responsibility. An issue of the scope of poverty eradication requires joint efforts involving federal, provincial and municipal governments in close cooperation with not-for-profit groups and community businesses.
The objective is more than simply delivering programs, it need to want to eventually eradicate poverty at its roots.
The Coalition for the Rights of Seniors and Nursing Homes Residents Rights was represented by its President and Executive Director, Hector Cormier and Cecile Cassista respectively.
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