OTTAWA, Nov. 12, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - Some 55 young people, ages 10-15 years, students from every province and territory, will gather in Ottawa for a nationwide Keep the Promise (KTP) Summit and Town Hall, Nov. 18-19, 2014. The event aims to re-ignite the public commitment to the 1989 unanimous motion in the House of Commons to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000, which has increased overall since that time.
During this two-day educational session, students will learn more about the democratic process and how it applies to the reduction of child poverty in Canada, and will include sharing of student pre-Summit work from their classrooms at home, and consensus building around the challenges faced in addressing the issue.
The Town Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 3:30-5:00 pm, at Immaculata High School, Main Street, Ottawa, will feature student presentations to give voice to ideas/solutions to solve child poverty. They will address what they consider to be priority issues and most promising paths of action. Parliamentarians including Senators and MPs from all parties will attend in addition to educators, NGO representatives and others from the general public. Hon. James Bartleman, former lieutenant governor of Ontario, will address students and guests, with the event live streamed to classrooms across the country - http://tv.ctf-fce.ca/
KTP, a two-year educational experience co-chaired by Mary Jo Leddy, OC, founder of Romero House, Toronto; and Arthur Bielfeld, CM, rabbi emeritus, Temple Emanu-El, Toronto, is grounded in the conviction that the best advocates for children are other children who have a basic sense of fairness.
KTP is supported by the Canadian Teachers' Federation, Campaign 2000/Family Service Toronto, the Children's Aid Society of Toronto, First Nations Child & Family Caring Society, the Canadian Association of Muslims and Jews, the Canadian Council of Reform Judaism, Canada without Poverty, Citizens for Public Justice, and the Ottawa Catholic School Board, among others.
For more information, visit the KTP web site at www.keepthepromise.ca Follow on Twitter #KTPCanada @KTPCanada
Note for media: Backgrounder, Fact Sheets, Biographies, Photos and other resource materials
are available at www.keepthepromise.ca/resources-page
SOURCE: Canadian Teachers' Federation
Contacts: Francine Filion, Canadian Teachers' Federation, [email protected], 613-899-4247 [mobile]; Pauline Théoret, Canadian Teachers' Federation, [email protected], 613-899-4207 [mobile]; Laurel Rothman, Campaign 2000, 416-595-9230, ext. 228; 416-575-9230 [mobile]
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