POVERTY REDUCTION

• August 2018: the federal government released Opportunity for All, Canada's first national poverty reduction strategy. The Salvation Army participated in the development of the strategy by attending government roundtables, through ecumenical conversations and advocacy efforts, and submissions to the federal government.  
  

  We encouraged governments to recognize poverty impacts people and communities in multiple ways.  Many of the recommendations we made during the consultation period were adopted into the strategy.

• March 2020: The Salvation Army was identified as one of 5 national organizations that could play a key role in ensuring Canadians had food on the table during COVID-19.

• December 2020: we attended a roundtable with the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and AgriFood Canada and her cabinet colleagues. The Minister thanked organizations whose work and dedication ensured Food Security for Canadians throughout 2020.

• February 2021: The Public Affairs Office submitted a response to the Department of Finance pre-budget consultation urging the federal government to continue investment in income and food security as well as homelessness prevention for people facing economic uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ADVOCACY
In our submissions to federal policy makers, we advocated that poverty is not just about lack of income.  Instead, it impacts and is impacted by other areas of individuals' and families' lives, including:

• Income security
• Housing and Homelessness
• Health care (including mental health)
• Food security