The Harper government is facing harsh criticism after a special investigator with the United Nations submitted a scathing report about food insecurity in Canada.
The UN Human Rights Council received the 21-page document that blames federal government policies for the rising number of people who are going hungry in Canada.
The document claims the elimination of the wheat board, the elimination of the long form census, and free trade negotiations with Europe are making it hard to fight poverty and give Canadians access to food.
The Conservatives criticized the investigator last May and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the report has no credibility.
“The recommendations going forward were very, very one-sided,” said Aglukkaq.
The report said nearly 900,000 Canadians visited food banks each month, last year.
It also called for a national food strategy, improved social assistance programs, and for the right to food to be enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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It is not surprising that this report is being criticized by the government. They would normally hold up UN Reports to justify sanctions, military invasion or other actions but when the report targets them it is uninformed and useless.
After years of working on the frontlines of social issues including food banks, I know that there are those in our country who have been calling for the type of action that the report recommends for years already. This is neither new nor surprising and it is certainly not uniformed, it just lends a louder voice to mounting problem.
http://foodbankscanada.ca/getmedia/3b946e67-fbe2-490e-90dc-4a313dfb97e5/HungerCount2012.pdf.aspx