Skip To Content

Social Justice and Advocacy

The Social Justice and Advocacy Consultant, with the Social Justice and Advocacy Committee, coordinates and advances the public witness of our Diocese on issues of social and ecological justice. We seek to be faithful to God’s call to compassion and justice, live out our baptismal vows, and engage faithfully with the world.

To learn more or get involved, contact Elin Goulden, Social Justice & Advocacy Consultant, at egoulden@toronto.anglican.ca or 416-363-6021 (1-800-668-8932).

Get started with our Social Justice and Advocacy Parish Outreach Guide 

Find the Outreach and Advocacy Prayer Cycle on our Prayer Resources page

Read our 2024 Social Justice Vestry Motion and find template letters to send to your federal and provincial representatives on the issues in this year’s motion.

What’s new:

Federal Advocacy: Homelessness Prevention, Canada Disability Benefit, and more

The 2024 federal budget is due to be released on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.  As this is is likely the last budget to be implemented before the next federal election, it is important to make it count. Here are some of the issues we have been advocating on at the federal level:

Housing & homelessness: The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness has outlined 6 measures that, if included in the upcoming federal budget, would address the crisis of rising homelessness and housing need in Canada. Learn more and send your message to federal leaders here.

Lift Canadians with disabilities out of poverty:  1.5 million people with disabilities are living in poverty across Canada, and across the country, 50% of people with disabilities over the age of 16 are food insecure.  Parliament unanimously passed the Canada Disability Benefit Act in 2023, but has yet to budget and implement the benefit. You can send a digital postcard to urge Finance Minister Freeland to budget the benefit this spring and roll it out by the end of 2024.

Provincial Advocacy - Read our 2024 Pre-Budget Submission

Our 2024 provincial pre-budget submission can be found here.

The 2024 Provincial Budget is due to be released on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.  Watch for our response to the budget in early April!

Anglican Outreach Support Network

Many parishes have contacted the Diocesan Office for guidance on continuing outreach programs during COVID-19.  See the Amber/Red Guidelines for Outreach Ministries and the Guidelines for Outreach Ministries Offering Indoor Food Services documents on our COVID-19 Updates page.

We urge all parishes to follow public health protocols for screening, hygiene, PPE and distancing when offering outreach services.

What we do

We facilitate communications between the diocesan and suffragan bishops and various levels of government. We also educate, equip and support parishes and individual Anglicans in advocacy on social and ecological justice.

Priorities

Our ongoing social justice work is focused on three priority areas:

  1. poverty reduction
  2. affordable housing and homelessness
  3. environmental issues

Other areas of concern, where we support the work of other church ministries, include:

Some of our key activities include: