CUPE and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Must First Target Poverty of the Unborn

Yesterday, about 2,000 union members and supporters rallied in downtown Toronto against the “scourge of poverty,” and called poverty a “national disgrace.”

The rally, one of many around the globe, was in support of International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which has more than 500,000 members indicated poverty was a moral issue when he was quoted as saying:

Canada cannot claim to provide moral leadership to the world without putting its money where its mouth is.

It’s very normal—and right—to view poverty as a moral issue. Of course poverty can also be considered an issue of justice. Poverty in Canada is truly a “national disgrace,” as the protestors claimed.

But let’s be very clear about what we are talking about when we refer to poverty. As I said in a previous posting entitled “Politically Correct” Poverty Versus True Poverty,”

Considering the fact that poverty, in the narrow sense of proper food and clothing, is deemed an injustice, then the denial of that individual’s very right to live would constitute the greatest poverty and an infinitely greater injustice.

Again, in the narrow, “politically correct” sense of poverty, we see that it is only one of many kinds of injustices against children. Child abuse is another. As a society we are enraged at the thought of children being abused in any manner by adults. But which is the worse injustice: “pc poverty” or child abuse? The answer is obvious. Taken a step further, it should be equally clear that killing a child is a worse injustice than abusing a child.

If one protests about “pc poverty,” maintaining that a child cannot be denied proper food, clothing, housing, etc. [as these thousands of protestors seem to be doing] but says nothing when the same child’s very right to live is denied [make no mistake about it, most of these protestors were not participants in the March for Life], how seriously must we take them? If we are to be truly concerned about poverty we will not conveniently close our eyes to the far greater injustice of killing children. This parable strikes a blow to such hypocrisy.

Of course, some will protest that “abortion is about a woman’s right to choose,” and not about killing children. It’s not about poverty at all, they will say. But merely stating such slogans do not make them true. The one question that must be asked by all Canadians considering the larger picture of poverty is this one: What is the Unborn?

Let’s rightly answer that question first and set ourselves upon the truly high moral ground. Then and only then can we consider ourselves in any important sense to be a “moral beacon” to the world.

And by the way, since Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) was such a high profile presence in this march against poverty, it would be good to see what CUPE’s position is on legalized child-killing.

Obviously CUPE, like too many other groups, including religious ones, is concerned about the “politically correct” and very narrow version of poverty. Someone needs to help them get their eyes opened.