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Beside this post you will see a photo of the MVA (Metro Vancouver Alliance) group who met with the Honourable Shane Simpson, Minister for Social Development and Poverty Reduction on January 23, regarding the clawback of CPP from those on disability.

Left to right Deborah Littman Organizer MVA, Barbara Brown Christ Church Cathedral and behind her Brenda Beck, St. Laurence Anglican Church, The Hon. Shane Simpson, AJ Brown, Christ Church Cathedral, James Cavalluzzo, BC Government Employees Union, The Rev. Margaret Marquardt, Diocese of New Westminster Eco-Justice Unit and Tracey Maynard, Lead Organizer, MVA  

The group from MVA met with Minister Simpson as a follow up to the MVA Provincial Election Assembly April 4, 2017, when AJ presented testimony regarding the difficulty of having her CPP, Canadian Pension Plan clawed back ( money reduced) from her disability amount. MVA raised the injustice of the situation for all in the same situation as AJ. The response of (now) Premier Horgan was resounding support to work to change this. Mr. Horgan committed leading up to the election to the following;

"In a first step in addressing poverty, commit to the elimination of the claw back of Canadian Pension Plan Disability benefits for people on provincial Persons with Disabilities (PWD) assistance."

The meeting with Minister Simpson addressed the work of the government in addressing this commitment. It is on the Minister's radar and MVA will continue to work diligently towards this concern as part of the wider work of MVA with other organization regarding poverty reduction in BC. MVA committed to ongoing accountability in this work and will have a follow up meeting with the Minister in the Spring.  

The Diocese is a Sponsoring Organization of MVA