Keep The Promise was a two-year campaign to reignite the commitment of Canadians and government to end child poverty for good. Canada is still waiting.
Keep The Promise history
In 1989, the House of Commons unanimously committed to end child poverty. On January 30, 2015, marking 25 years since the unanimous motion to end child poverty was passed by the House of Commons in 1989, a new motion — M-534, put forward by MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan — was debated in the House of Commons. It was subsequently passed, only one vote shy of unanimity.
Keep The Promise was a two-year campaign, launched in 2013, to reignite the commitment of Canadians and their governments to end child poverty for good. While the campaign has concluded, the effort is ongoing and promising, thanks in large part to our two primary partners, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) and Campaign 2000. Inspired by activist June Callwood’s example, Keep The Promise helps kids remind adults that they have not kept their promise to end child poverty in Canada.
This webpage contains resources which were created or compiled by the Keep The Promise campaign since 2013 that may help you engage with others who are taking action.
Resources for educators
Keep The Promise partnered with the CTF on an anti-poverty initiative targeted to grades 5 to 8 classrooms across the country, in a campaign to create an opportunity for students to offer their vision for a Canada where all children have access to the food, education and housing they deserve. This collaboration was later expanded to high school engagement opportunities.
Although the Keep the Promise campaign has concluded, educators can conduct a poverty inquiry with students at any time with the revised lessons provided below. The lessons have direct connections to language and mathematics curriculum, and to learning and inquiry skills. In some cases there are also connections to content in the social studies curriculum and they definitely fit into the overall citizenship goals at all grade levels.
Information resources
- National Statistics on Child Poverty Fact Sheet
- What Does Poverty Look Like Fact Sheet
- What Children Are Saying
- What People Are Saying
- Keep The Promise Backgrounder
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Keep the Promise song score
Video Resources
- Keep The Promise Summit – 2015
- PSA – End Child Poverty in Canada (Chalkboard)
- Ed Broadbent speaks to the House of Commons in 1989
- PSA – Child Poverty Canada (You made a promise)
- Motion 534 to Eliminate Child Poverty
- Keep The Promise Town Hall
- End child poverty in Canada – We Keep The Promise
- What child poverty means to kids
Campaign 2000’s Annual Report Cards on Child and Family Poverty in Canada, 2014
- National Report Card
- Ontario Report Card
- Alberta Report Card
- British Columbia Report Card
- Manitoba Report Card
- Prince Edward Island Report Card
- New Brunswick Report Card
- Nova Scotia Report Card
- Dignity for All. A National Anti-Poverty Plan for Canada
- The Hidden Epidemic. A Report on Child and Family Poverty in Toronto
- Fact Sheet on Child Poverty in Toronto
Government initiatives and publications
- Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, 2014-2019 – Realizing Our Potential
- Federal Private Member’s Bill to Eliminate Child Poverty, January 30, 2015 – Motion 534 Child Poverty House of Commons
Research & policy on the significance of childhood experiences
- The Human Early Learning Partnership, University of British Columbia
- The Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development, University of Toronto
- Child Care Canada Childcare Research and Resource Unit
- Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Articles, literature reviews & editorials
- Daphne Bramham: Promises, Promises But No Answers on Child Poverty, Bramham, The Vancouver Sun, October 9, 2015
- Child Poverty Wide-Spread in Toronto-Area Ridings, Monsebraaten, The Toronto Star, October 7, 2015
- Group Pushes Federal Parties on Poverty, Press, The Record.com, October 7, 2015
- Cape Breton Youth Summit on Child Poverty Held in New Waterford, Conners, CBC News, Nova Scotia, April 24, 2015
- Ottawa Urged to Put Child Poverty Pledge into Action, Monsebraaten, Toronto Star, March 12, 2015
- Hines Creek Students Get a Taste of the Nation’s Capital, Maggs, Fairviewpost.com, December 17, 2014
- End Child Poverty in Canada Now: Editorial, The Toronto Star, November 21, 2014
- 25 Years After Ottawa’s Pledge To End Child Poverty, It’s Time To Hit ‘Reset’, Oved, The Toronto Star, November 19, 2014
- The Cycle of Child Poverty, Willms, The Toronto Star, November 18, 2014
- Toronto Children Need More Prosperity, Not More Charity: Hume, Hume, The Toronto Star, November 17, 2014
- Three New Studies Find Childcare is Good for Kids, Editorial, The Toronto Star, November 17, 2014
- Keep the Promise to End Child Poverty, Bielfeld & Leddy, The Toronto Star, November 15, 2014
- Family MDs Push Ottawa for Home-Care Strategy and Plan to End Child Poverty, Ubelacker, The Canadian Press, November 12, 2014
- The Way to Beat Poverty, Kristof & WuDunn, The New York Times, September 12, 2014
- Almost a million Canadian Kids in Poverty is an Acute Emergency, Lee Ford-Jones, The Toronto Star, September 8, 2014
- No Parent Should Have to Choose Between Groceries and Back to School Clothes, Chapin, The Huffington Post, September 9, 2014
- Don’t Cut Funding For First Nations Children, Chief Shining Turtle, The Huffington Post, May 22, 2014
Resources regarding poverty in Indigenous communities
- Shannen’s Dream
- Jordan’s Principle
- First Nations Child & Family Caring Society
- Canadian Feed the Children National Aboriginal Nutrition Program
- Assembly of First Nations
- Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
- Métis National Council
- National Association of Friendship Centres – Aboriginal Youth Council
- Poverty or Prosperity – Indigenous children in Canada
- Poverty as a Social Determinant of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Health
Imagineaction
CTF’s social justice program, Imagineaction www.imagine-action.ca, is a teacher platform that provides tools and resources to facilitate the development of students’ critical thinking skills; boosts creativity with student awareness of multiple solutions for social problems; and, maximizes student potential for learning through school-community social action projects.