News Conference Advisory - Child poverty in Canada: teacher leaders to meet
with Parliamentarians tomorrow

OTTAWA, April 19 /CNW Telbec/ - Canadian Teachers' Federation (CTF) will hold a news conference tomorrow to present its recommendations and progress report card to the federal government with respect to child poverty in Canada. The materials will be released as part of the Federation's annual "Hill Day" in which members of the CTF Board of Directors meet with MPs, senators and senior government officials to address priorities identified by teacher organizations across Canada, such as child poverty.

"Child poverty is a tragic and shameful fact of life in a nation as wealthy as ours," explains CTF President Mary-Lou Donnelly, referring to the Food Banks Canada report which states that of the 794,738 people who were assisted by a food bank in March 2009, 294,053 were children -- an 86% increase since the 1989 unanimous House of Commons' resolution to end child poverty.

"Based on these statistics, we reaffirm our assertion that the federal government needs to assume more responsibility in addressing this continuing national embarrassment," says Donnelly.

The news conference will be held:

    
    When:  Tuesday, April 20, 2010

    Time:  noon

    Where: Charles Lynch Media Room,
           Centre Block, Parliament Hill, Ottawa

    Who:   CTF President Mary-Lou Donnelly
    

CTF speaks for nearly 200,000 teachers in Canada as the national voice on education and related social issues. CTF membership includes Member organizations in provinces and territories in Canada as well as an Affiliate Member in Ontario. CTF (http://www.ctf-fce.ca) is also a member of the international body of teachers, Education International (http://www.ei-ie.org).

For further information: Francine Filion, Director of Communications, cell: [phone]