Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The United Nations has declared today, October 17th, as International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. I think this day is timely because here in the Northwest Territories we’ve just concluded a second series of meetings of the Anti-Poverty Working Group, as mentioned by the Minister. We are moving forward with the development of an Anti-Poverty Strategy.
The International Day for Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, but unfortunately, we still have very little to show for it. Millions across our world still live in abject poverty. Progress on the goal to reduce poverty has been agonizingly slow. Here in Canada, some parts of the country are ahead of others, and thankfully for us, the NWT is not the last to begin development of an Anti-Poverty Strategy. Our work on it can come none too soon.
At the end of July, the national organization Campaign 2000, an organization whose slogan is End Child and Family Poverty in Canada, issued a media release following the Council of the Federation meetings. Part of that release quoted Sid Frankel, an associate professor, University of Manitoba’s School of Social Work. Professor Frankel said: “The provinces need to strengthen their poverty reduction strategies and the federal government needs to adopt its own comprehensive and coordinated plan. Income is a key determinant of a person’s health. The higher one’s position on the income ladder, the more likely one is to live in good health. Income equality, on the other hand, impairs health and increases premature mortality. Simply, all Canadians will benefit from less poverty and inequality.”
Also, Dr. Michael Rachlis, health care analyst and associate professor at the University of Toronto was quoted: “Poverty accounts for at least 20 percent of our health care costs. If we can reduce poverty substantially and increase the quality of life for more people, we will reduce health care expenditures and prevent new costs in the future.”
The GNWT and this Assembly must not lose sight of the importance of reducing and eradicating poverty. We’ve made a commitment to develop a strategy and we are acting on it. Now we must ensure a comprehensive, workable, coordinated response to poverty from that commitment. Reorganizing how we provide GNWT programs and services and revamping our policies…
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
Reorganizing how we provide GNWT programs and services and revamping our policies to enable people to rise out of poverty would achieve such a coordinated result. I look forward to seeing the result of the work of the Anti-Poverty Working Group. I would like to thank all of them for their efforts to date and for the work that they will do in the coming months. This working group is a great example of the benefits of collaboration, working together for the betterment of all NWT residents. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
