Human rights

Ottawa--Poverty is still a women's issue - even though people no longer seem to be talking about it. Almost 19% of adult women in Canada are poor. That's the highest rate of women's poverty in two decades. In A Report Card on Women and Poverty, prepared for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, economist Monica Townson found that, since 1980, the percentage of women living in poverty has been climbing steadily. Women remain among the poorest of the poor, says Townson. And recent government policies have contributed to the growing poverty of women, she notes.

(Vancouver) Human rights expert Shelagh Day says the provincial government's recommended changes to BC's human rights system are a giant step in the wrong direction. She says the proposed new legislation takes the public interest out of the system and reduces it to a complaint-handling system for private disputes. The deadline for submissions on the draft legislation, Bill 53,a was yesterday.

HALIFAX - According to a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives the Hamm government's 10% income tax cut will increase the economic inequality between Halifax and the rest of the province, and between men and women. The study is the second part of the CCPA-NS series "Who really Benefits from Nova Scotia's Income Tax Cut." Using the most recent taxation data from Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, the study estimates the distribution of the income tax cut by counties and between women and men.