CASW's Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the 2024 Budget
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed long-standing inequities — social conditions that have always existed but were highlighted by a once-in-a-generation crisis. A March 2023 report from Statistics Canada detailed some of these challenges: Deaths from drug and alcohol abuse, particularly among young people, increased to record highs. Canadians are having difficulty keeping a roof over their head, with the average cost of a home increasing by 33 per cent, or $179,000, since the start of the pandemic. Inflation is also making things more unaffordable for many; despite the inflation rate falling to 2.8 per cent in June 2023, food prices have risen by almost 20 per cent in just two years.
Addressing the social determinants of health to improve quality of life in Canada must be a priority. CASW welcomes the recent investments made by the federal government to strengthen Canadian health and social systems. We are hopeful government will continue to focus on bolstering health and social conditions in collaboration with organizations, Indigenous communities and their provincial and territorial counterparts.
The Government must centre reconciliation in their work. Now is the time to truly uphold the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and continue to action implementing the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ Inquiry Calls for Justice.
Social workers’ front-line roles in social programs and institutions across our country give them crucial experience with social and economic inequity, health, mental health and substance use, crime and victimization and the necessary conditions for children to thrive. Their unique roles and training give them the perspective to effectively bring equity and justice for all those who call Canada home. Social workers are a key part of the fabric of our health care system; every time government discusses how they can reorganize care and expand professional scope to better suited deliverables, social workers should be part of that conversation. Despite some essential policy pieces in place to begin addressing the well-being of all Canadians across the country such as national strategies for housing and poverty reduction, Canada will remain in crisis if the government does not provide adequate support toward a just, bold and innovative future.