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View entire report here.

As Steelworkers, we believe that the best means to fight poverty is a good and sustainable job. Charity can be important but the main goal is ending poverty – globally and right here in Canada. Good jobs and sustainable livelihoods that allow families to eat, to educate their children, to have a decent dwelling and to live with dignity are the final goal unions like the Steelworkers and most charities share. One food bank director told us “My dream is that one day I will be out of work”. Many men and women in Africa, Asia and Latin America also dream of ending aid dependency and replacing it with fair prices for their commodities on world markets and equitable returns to their citizens from foreign investors through good jobs, taxes and royalties.

We know, from our own experience, that good and sustainable jobs do not appear magically. The rich and powerful, here and around the world, benefit when there is poverty. Under the economic system of the last three decades, corporations have actively sought out low-wage economies with weak labour and environmental protection. When people are poor enough, they are prepared to accept – and even fight with their neighbours for – underpaid jobs.

The current financial crisis has shown us that the TV images of poverty and joblessness in the south could be closer to home than we imagined. Governments seem to have had no problem in saving banks and corporations but have been slow to increase unemployment benefits or establish job creation programs for the thousands of workers that have lost their jobs. Those workers without jobs compete among themselves for part-time positions at Wal Mart or temp jobs. Perhaps Canada is still not a country with rampant poverty but over the past months we have seen growing joblessness and despair among many of our friends, family, and neighbours.

The Steelworkers Humanity Fund understands that to build a better world it needs to operate in parallel paths. First, the Fund works to ensure people that are suffering because of inequalities and injustices in Canada and abroad will get the help they need. Second, it gets involved in the struggles to ensure a fair distribution of wealth in Canada and abroad, understanding that this is the only way to erase inequalities and poverty permanently.

The Steelworkers Humanity Fund is pleased to share this report with you, which shows a balanced approach following both paths: helping today and building a better future in Canada and abroad.

View entire report here.