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Campaign 2000

FSA Toronto provides national and provincial (Ontario) leadership for Campaign 2000.

Campaign 2000 was established in 1991 out of concern about the lack of government progress in addressing child poverty. It is a cross-Canada public education movement whose goal is to build Canadian awareness and support for the 1989 all-party House of Commons resolution to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.

Although the year 2000 has come and gone, child and family poverty regrettably persists.

Most recent statistics indicate that 1,196,000 of our children and youth (under 18 years) live under the Low Income Cut Off (LICO) developed by Statistics Canada. That means 17.7% or about 1 out of every 6 of all children and youth in Canada, live in poverty. While Canada does not have an official poverty line, most non-governmental organizations use the LICO in their analysis.

Campaign 2000 is non-partisan in urging all Canadian elected officials to keep their promise to Canada's children.

Today, there are over 120 national, community and provincial partners actively involved in the work of Campaign 2000.

Campaign 2000 partners come from a wide range of civil society organizations including (but not limited to) those representing low income people, parents, early learning and child care, affordable housing, health care, the union movement, social planning councils, ethno-racial communities, faith communities, teachers, social workers, urban Aboriginal peoples, newcomers, women and children with disabilities.

For a complete listing of all Campaign 2000 partners, please refer to the Campaign 2000 partners' list.

As part of Campaign 2000, FSA Toronto is involved in consultations with the public and local, provincial and federal governments regarding the issue of child and family poverty and related government policy.

Campaign 2000 partners, including FSA, meet with all political parties in both federal and provincial governments to discuss and promote social policies that support:

• better income security that includes the National Child Benefit;
• suitable, accessible and affordable housing;
• widely available early learning and childcare services;
• good jobs with benefits that enable families to be independent;
• community services and other relevant policy areas.

For current news, articles, report releases and more information about Campaign 2000, visit the website at http://www.campaign2000.ca

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