Areas of discussion included concerns about homelessness, women's poverty issues, wage inequality, the growing attack on the poor, the result of neoliberal shifts towards the downsizing of government and dismantling of social programs.
[17] It also championed the rights of homeless people and won a legal case against the City of Winnipeg which was forced to repeal a by-law prohibiting panhandling.
[19] CWP works with people from government, business and community groups to influence legislative priorities at the federal level regarding income and social support needs.
Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor at the Hague International War Tribunals and an Honorary Director of CWP, has stated "poverty prevails as the gravest human rights challenge in the world".
[20] In Canada, inequalities of access to social and economic resources contribute significantly to poverty levels across Canada, i.e., those in poverty are often First Nation people, immigrants and refugees, single adults between the ages of 45-64, and single mothers with children, disabled, those in the lowest-paying jobs, full or part-time.
The Canadian Council for International Co-operation, a group involved in global poverty reduction and connected to CWP, is threatened with complete funding cuts.
[27] Individually it is characterized by people having to make tough choices between meeting basic needs like deciding whether to eat, buy new shoes, pay the rent etc.
[30] This project was supported by over 550 Canadian anti-poverty groups (including Acorn Canada,[31] and Alberta Human Rights Commission[32][33] and almost 130 Members of Parliament and 15 Senators.
[38] From June 2014 until 2020, she was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing which she carried out in addition to her CWP role.
[42] In 2015 CWP employed four employees to fulfill all administrative affairs, including fund raising, communications, and organizing the various events and campaigns along with the assistance of numerous volunteers.