A Statement on Social Policy

As socially concerned people in labor unions, women’s organizations, welfare rights associations, church organizations, aboriginal groups, and other community associations, we are alarmed by signs of deepening social crisis in Canada today. Plant shutdowns, farm bankruptcies, business failures, and abandoned communities have left well over a million and a half people unemployed, thus deprived of an adequate family or personal income. During the past two years alone, nearly a million people have become dependent on welfare. Close to one out of every five citizens in Canada is now living at or below the official poverty line.

As members of various popular organizations, we wish to declare our solidarity with all those people w...