Poverty

1. The Canada Child Benefit (CCB) is an important federal program that provides essential income supports to families, and a critical tool for addressing child poverty in Canada;           
2. The specific eligibility criteria for the CCB regarding the immigration status of parents renders many refugee and migrant families ineligible to receive the benefit, including:

• Refugee claimants awaiting a determination of their claim;
• Children who cannot leave Canada for reasons beyond their control, such as those whose parents are from countries where Canada has issued a moratorium of removal because of dangerous conditions;
• Children who are Canadian citizens, but whose parents do not fall within the limited immigration eligibility categories;

3. Excluding children and families from accessing the CCB based on the immigration status of the parents stands in contravention to numerous articles within the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Canada has ratified.
4. Denying refugee and migrant families access to the CCB based on the immigration status of the parents carries many detrimental consequences for the children who are impacted, including challenges associated with health, child development, income security and housing stability, among others.  

1. People with precarious immigration status disproportionately experience poverty, homelessness and underhousing, food insecurity and income insecurity;
2. Federal, provincial and territorial poverty reduction legislation, policies and strategies implicitly  exclude migrant workers and people with precarious immigration status by not naming them;

1. The CCR has two resolutions on poverty Racialization of poverty (Res.: 1 , Nov 2016) and Poverty circumstances of Government-Assisted Refugees (Res.: 2 , Nov 2005)
2. Federal, provincial and territorial government legislation and policies should be based on sound evidence (including, but not limited to demographic and user data) that is representative of the experiences of all residents of Canada;
3. Publicly available census and other administrative data is not representative of all residents of Canada;

1. The gap between rich and poor in Canada is widening generally, and disproportionately impacts racialized group members;
2. Inequalities with respect to economic status, health, learning outcomes and more are deep and persistent among members of racialized groups;
3. These are products of structural and systemic racism and exclusion;

Refugees and immigrants on minimum wage are forced to live in poverty;

Transportation loans and welfare levels of refugee support of government-assisted refugees under the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP) force them into poverty;

1. The length of protracted refugee situations is increasing, leading to impoverishment and deprivation of the refugees in these camps and urban settings;
2. Canada is committed to working towards finding durable solutions for persons in protracted refugee situations including repatriation, local integration and resettlement;
3. All refugees will benefit from education and skills training made available before persons leave the camps, especially but not exclusively those being resettled;
4. The CCR and more recently the UNHCR have expressed to the government of Canada their interest in engaging Canadian NGOs in resettlement activities abroad, including those with an integration focus, recognizing the benefits to the refugees and to the receiving communities;