World Day of Social Justice
I’ll confess, I don’t usually pay much attention to awareness-raising days which come around once a year to draw our attention to an issue. But this week my attention was drawn to two days which occur side by side: World Day of Social Justice on February 20th and Human Trafficking Awareness Day in Ontario on February 21st. Together, these two days do more than simply call our attention to an issue. They dialogue with each other.
If we use the lens of social justice to examine human trafficking, we are reminded that human trafficking is not just a criminal activity, and we can’t prevent human trafficking simply by prosecuting criminals and raising awareness. Rather, it’s critical to focus on the social, economic and cultural factors which create vulnerabilities to being trafficked: social exclusion, poverty, lack of education and job opportunities, racism, and gender bias, weak mental health and addiction services, to name a few.
These factors highlight a lack of access to human rights. The good news is, this means there are structural changes which would go a long way toward preventing this exploitation: robust social protections (living wage, basic income guarantee, adequate shelter, health care, and access to ongoing education and skills-training), strong labour standards with frequent inspections, and more pathways to permanent residency.
In other words, better access to human rights is the best way to prevent human trafficking --- and many other injustices. All we need is the political will to make it happen.
-Sister Sue Wilson, csj
We are deeply concerned by inadequate social assistance and freezing of minimum wage.
The Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada is deeply concerned by Friday’s announcement of changes to social assistance in Ontario. While the decision to allow recipients to keep more of the money they earn, before clawing back these earnings, is relatively positive for affected recipients, the change still does not take their income anywhere near the poverty line. The announcement also leaves recipients who are unable to work woefully below the poverty line. Further, the decision to make it harder to qualify for a disability pension will keep more Ontarians, who are are unable to work, in deep poverty. In short, this policy announcement leaves too many people behind. Together with the decision to freeze the minimum wage at the current level, the government in Ontario has done little to remove barriers which are undermining meaningful participation, in both society and the labour market.
Federation President, Sister Mary Ann McCarthy, sees these policies through an ethical lens: “The Sisters of St. Joseph place a great deal of importance on community. We know community works best when everyone feels like they belong; when they’re participating in the life of the community, contributing to the good of the whole and feeling valued. This is our hope for all people in Ontario.”
Sister Sue Wilson, from the Federation’s Office for Systemic Justice, adds, “In Ontario, there are too many people in our communities who are made to feel like they don’t belong. While many are finding work, too many are not finding decent work. They’re not making a living wage or getting benefits. Some can only find temporary jobs and sometimes the work isn’t safe.”
The Sisters of St. Joseph note that, rather than undermining participation in the labour force, strong social protections, such as social assistance, are a critical mechanism for increasing employment rates. Wilson explains, “Strong social protections provide vital support for workers as they transition from one job to another. Without these protections, people can become so socially and economically excluded they are not able to recover.”
It is important to learn from experience. Wilson says: “Inadequate rates of social assistance create barriers to social and economic inclusion: They erode physical and mental health; they put people in a position where they must sink all their energy into surviving and end up marginalized from the labour market and vital social connections. We have been watching this play out in Ontario since the mid-1990s.”
McCarthy concludes: “We can do better! Trust cannot thrive while different social groups experience starkly different social and economic outcomes. Greater equity isn’t just important for people who live in poverty. It benefits all of us, strengthening the ties which bind us together. Strong social protections and a living wage would create a critical foundation for greater equity in Ontario.”
Youth as Problem Solvers
Last month at the Air Canada Center in Toronto I learned a very important lesson. I learned that together anyone can make a difference if WE believe that WE are powerful. I learned this at WE Day. WE Day is an event by invitation only. It's a gathering of famous people that help young people to be inspired to make a change in our world.
At WE Day we listened to a lot of empowering people. My personal favourite was Craig Kielburger (the founder of Free the Children) precisely because of what he said, “We need to stop thinking that the youth are a problem that needs to be solved, and realize that they are the problem solvers!”
Craig Kielburger also reminded us (the audience) that as the next generation the future is in our hands. It gave me the confidence and courage I needed to believe that I too can make a difference.
During the school year our Social Justice Group is focusing on different issues. Currently, the Club at my school (St. Gabriel Catholic Elementary School, Windsor) is doing a campaign called WE Scare Hunger. What we did was to collect cans from October 15 to November 6 and we donated them to the Windsor Downtown Mission. Craig and many other speakers such as Demi Lovato and Henry Winkler gave us the confidence to beat our school record of over 4000 cans last year.
Youth guest blogger, Evan Bonyai
For more information about this youth engagement movement can be found on We Day website at http://www.weday.com/what-is-we-day/our-story/
Photo: Evan's "Selfie"