TORONTO, May 30, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change (COP-COC) is releasing its 2018 Racial Justice Report Card for Ontario, showing where the three main Ontario political parties stand on issues affecting racialized communities.
As a group, racialized communities experience higher rates of poverty, homelessness, school push out, and health inequities, while having greater difficulties accessing justice and the human rights system to address these various forms of discrimination.
The COP-COC 2018 Racial Justice Report Card examines the records and platforms of the three parties represented in the provincial legislature in – Access to Justice, Education and Learning, Employment, Health and Well-being, Housing and Homelessness, Human Rights, Newcomer Settlement and Integration, Justice and Policing, and Poverty. The Report Card ranks the parties in each of these policy areas by how responsive they are to the needs of racialized communities – both Indigenous Peoples and peoples of colour. Scoring ranges from “A” for the most responsive to “C” for the least responsive.
The NDP received an ‘A’ for: Education and Learning, Employment, Health and Well-being, Housing and Homelessness, and Newcomer Settlement and Integration.
The Liberal Party received an ‘A’ for Access to Justice.
The NDP and Liberals both received ‘A’ for Human Rights, Justice and Policing and Poverty Reduction
The PC party received a “C” in all policy areas in the Report Card, either because it does not have a position on the issue or because the party or platform commitments stated so far fail to address the needs of racialized communities.
Issues impacting racialized communities have received little attention in the 2018 Ontario Elections, apart from some media speculation on which party would receive the most number of votes from so-called `ethnic’ communities.
Regardless of who forms the next Government of Ontario, Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change urges all parties to adopt policies that will have the greatest positive impact on the members of Ontario’s ethno-racially diverse communities.
To read the full press release, please go to: https://colourofpoverty.ca/2018/05/30/copc-ontario-election-report-card-media-release/
To read the full Report Card, please go to: https://colourofpovertyca.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/racial-justice-report-card-ontario-provincial-election-2018-final.pdf
For further information, please contact:
Amy Casipullai, OCASI- Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants – 416-524-4950
Avvy Go, Chinese & South East Asian Legal Clinic - 416-971-9674
Shalini Konanur, South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario - 416-487-6371