A Bridge To Cross

Canadian church leaders have been working their way through the halls of Parliament in the last couple of days pressing members from all parties to take action on issues of international and domestic poverty before it becomes too late to do anything at all. I met with them in Michael Ignatieff's boardroom and could see instantly that these weren't a group of clerics offering some bland scriptural admonitions. They had in-depth research and years of experience in hand and their delivery was both passionate and eloquent.Yet they were encountering two problems that in many ways lay beyond their control and substantial abilities. The first concerned the results of a detailed survey compiled by one of their own members. For the Salvation Army the findings of their largest survey in years were revealing ... and somewhat troubling. Titled the Dignity Project, researchers asked a good number of Canadians for their views on poverty. In fact, it was the third most important issue, behind the economy and health care. That makes sense and reflects how citizens traditionally have responded to polls on poverty over the years. But then troubling insights began to appear.About 50% of Canadians feel that a family of four could get by on $10,000 - $30,000 per year. For those with any sense of reality concerning the economic challenges today, such sentiments just aren't realistic. Nearly 50% of respondents felt that if the poor wanted work that they could get it. That flies in the face of the regular unemployment numbers in Canada, where even graduates with two or three degrees can't find employment. About a quarter of those who responded believe the poor are lazy or have lower moral values. As if those in need don't have enough to contend with, the knowledge that so many Canadians share such sentiments must be discouraging. To be told you are lazy, low in morality or just lack a strong work ethic must lay you flat.The church leaders know all the stereotypes and they were here in Ottawa to combat them and to encourage politicians to get on with lifting people out of poverty. But figures like these in the Dignity Project must make that work all the harder. It's not only political representatives you have to convince these days, it's also large swaths of the public, perhaps even in their own congregations.The second challenge faced by these leaders is political ideology - lots of it. In late-2009, the Canadian Senate produced a powerful and unanimously supported poverty study titled In From the Margins, co-chaired by a Liberal and a Conservative. The government response? A kind cursory "thank you" and then it was shelved under "Obscurity." From the House side, the Commons Human Resources Committee took three years to assemble 58 clear recommendations that would raise Ottawa's profile in the fight against national poverty. Again, the government response? According to the Human Resources minister, the Harper government has already done enough to fight poverty. This is a staggering statement, given the recession we have been through and the growing gap between the rich and the poor, and it is one that sends a terribly insensitive message.So these church leaders have a huge job on their hands. They have to educate Canadians as to the realities of poverty and they will have to get more politically active if they wish to make a true difference in Ottawa. This is something they have been historically reticent to do, but if they are truly to advocate on the plight of the poor, then they will have to step things up a notch and speak out against those parties that are resistant to their efforts. I suspect this might be a bridge they just won't wish to cross. That's one of the most torturous things about being a person of faith. Regardless of your respective religious tradition, the original founders of the great faiths all had at least this in common: they were willing to cross that bridge and challenge their generation. Should these very impressive church leaders who I met with this week take up that challenge, they will follow in the footsteps of those great founders and they will become a relevant light and voice to their generation. Their faith will only be as powerful as that journey.