Excerpts from the entire artcile
1. CHILD CARE
Create a universal, affordable, non-profit led child care system. The only way to stimulate the economy, get women back to work, and address the child care access and affordability crisis is to build an early education system that families can rely on.
- Invest at least $30 billion to build a national, universal child care system and commit to ongoing funding to maintain this system.
- Honour signed child care agreements and reach similar agreements with the remaining provinces/territories.
- Introduce federal legislation that protects a national child care system and strengthens the pay and working conditions of workers.
2. HOUSING
Invest in deeply affordable and supportive housing across the country and expand rentalassistance for low-income households. Market rent and the supply of affordable housing units has not kept pace with the rising cost of living and other social forces. We need a rigorous increase in funding for affordable housing, with a special investment in homes for women-led families, particularly those fleeing violence.
- Create 50,000 units of supportive housing and 300,000 units of deeply affordable nonprofit housing by 2030.
- Provide rent relief for people struggling with rent payments. Rental assistance can be either direct financial support to households living in market or non-market housing, or direct financial support to non-market housing providers in order to off-set the cost of rent for low-income households.
- Invest in deeply affordable and supportive housing specific for Indigenous communities and women-led families.
3. INCOME SECURITY
Prioritize income security so that everyone in Canada – regardless of immigration status, sector of employment, age or ability to engage in paid work – has access to a guaranteed livable basic income.
- Implement Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) repayment amnesty for all Canadians living below or just above the poverty line.
- Extend the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) for the duration of the pandemic.
- Modernize and expand Employment Insurance (EI) and ensure all workers in Canada have access to EI regardless of immigration status, sector of work or hours of work. We need an EI system that is fairer, more accessible and more representative of people in non-standard employment.
- Commit to creating the Canada Disability Benefit to end disability poverty. The Canada Disability Benefit, when combined with existing benefits and supports, should provide a basic, livable income without reductions to existing benefits.
- Implement the MMIWG2S+ National Inquiry Report call for a guaranteed annual livable income program.
4. GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Spend billions, not just millions, on ending gender-based violence. We know that ending gender-based violence requires deep systemic change. It is time to demand more than piecemeal investments in preventing and responding to this type of violence.
- Full funding for a National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence that centers on Black, Indigenous, racialized, newcomer, immigrant, refugee, and non-status women, and women with disabilities.
- A national action plan to address the extreme levels of violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people, including the implementation of the Calls to Justice from the MMIWG2S+ National Inquiry Report and regular progress reports.