Poverty in CanadaBy Tristan Gemus

Introduction

• Poverty is a growing problem in Canada and is not getting better

• Over 3 million Canadians suffer from poverty

• 1 out of 5 of those people are children

• 13.5% of children in Canada suffer from poverty

• Poverty costs Canada 72 to 84 billion every year

Interesting Facts About Canadian Poverty

• 872,379 Canadians recorded using food banks in 2012 to feed their family. This is the highest level of food bank usage EVER.

• Canada’s Health Care System spends $7.6 billion every year to support poverty

• 1 in 3 children in poverty have had at least one parent working full time and still being in poverty.

• There are seven provinces who have a poverty strategy, Canada is not one of them.

Reasons Why People Are in Poverty

• 51% of people in poverty say that the circumstances are beyond their control

• 37% of people in poverty are not doing enough to help themselves

• 11% were not sure why they were in poverty

Causes of Poverty

• Students are in debt before getting a stable job

• Lack of education

• Family problems

• Low wages

• Overpopulation

• Improper spending

Most Likely to be in Poverty

• Unfortunately, there are certain groups which are most likely to be in poverty.

• These groups are children, single parents, Aboriginal Canadians, recent immigrants, disabled people, and seniors.

Child Poverty• Canada ranks behind the UNICEF survey for child poverty in

rick countries

• 13.3% of Canadian children are in poverty compared to an 11% average amongst the other 34 “economically advanced countries”

• Half of the First Nations children suffer from poverty

Seniors in Poverty

• The average poverty rate in Canada for those over 65 years old is 7.2%

• This number if pretty high however it used to be nearly 13% less than 10 years ago.

• People pay into a pension their entire life and may not even see it once they retire.

• Many seniors who were once earning good money don’t anymore due to bad retirement planning

• If the Canadian Government offered better retirement planning, seniors would be much better off once it is their time to stop working.

• Seniors have very high expenses from medical supplies to supervised housing.

The Highest Child Poverty Rate

• In Canada, British Columbia has the highest child poverty rate, which is 18.1%

• One if every 5 children in BC suffer from poverty

• The government is trying to deal with the problem by “growing the economy”

• They instead need to directly work with the children to reduce that number by at least 50%

• 1/3 children living in poverty in BC has at least one parent working full time

• This means that they have inadequate expenses or minimum wage needs to be increased.

Video: BC’s High Child Poverty Rate

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDgEI9CfErk

Problems With Canadian Poverty Legislation

• There is no official measure of poverty in Canada

• Someone who is labelled to have “low income” in Canada earns less than half of the median income.

• 14.9% of Canadians are considered to have low income.

Effects of Poverty

• Poverty can shorten your life to an extreme extent

• Greater chance of becoming ill

• Children raised in poverty tend to miss more school because of illness

• Poverty is a huge stressor

• Due to health issues of those in poverty, children are more likely to face life-long issues

How Can Canadians’ Help Themselves?• Mentioned earlier, 37% of Canadians in poverty are

not doing enough to help themselves

• For every $1 spent in your early life, one should expect a $3 to $9 return in the future.

• Canadians spend too much on housing, they need to spend no more than 17% of their income on shelter.

• Before having children, Canadians should figure out if they are financially ready.

• Education is almost mandatory to obtain a good paying job at this day in age. By investing the time and money now, it will pay off in the future.

How Senator Hugh Segal is Fighting Poverty

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI-LDQCmW5E

How Canada Can Help Poverty

• A carefully planned employment system should be planned by the government.

• The government should give more support to Canadian entrepreneurs to start their businesses. This will create more jobs.

• If there were more jobs, overpopulation wouldn’t be such a problem.

• Any immigrants entering Canada should have to have a job lined up or given a job through a placement agency until they find their own.

• Government spending should be 100% public, this would make people who are in charge of the budgets spend more carefully.

• Tax the rich more and the poor less. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Taxation methods should be tailored by how much income one earns.

• If the media were more involved in poverty awareness, people wouldn’t forget how unfortunate others have it.

Minimum Wage in Canada• Minimum wage in Canada has slowly

been increasing, but a closer look should be taken.

• If someone works 40 hours per week earning minimum wage ($10.25), they earn $1,640 per month (4 weeks).

• The individual also needs to purchase food and standard living supplies. They need to think of transportation as well.

• After being taxed on their pay cheques and all of these fees, people earning minimum wage are hardly keeping their heads above water.

References

George Stroumboulopoulos. (October 17, 2013). 10 Things You Might Not Know About Poverty. In CBC News. Retrieved November 28, 2013, from http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/news/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-poverty-in-canada.

Poverty in Canada. TVO. (August 2013). Retrieved November 28, 2013 from

http://ww3.tvo.org/whypoverty/info/poverty-in-canada

Just The Facts. Canada Without Poverty (2013). Retrieved November 28, 2013 from

http://www.cwp-csp.ca/poverty/just-the-facts/

Eng, Susan (November 28, 2013). Younger Canadians Will Suffer the Most From This Failing System. Huffington Post. Retrieved November 28 from

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/susan-eng/canada-pensions_b_4346358.html?utm_hp_ref=ca-poverty

Canada’s children told to fend for themselves say Campaign 2000. Make Poverty History. (April 3, 2012). Retrieved November 28, 2013 from

http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/story/canada-s-children-told-to-fend-for-themselves-say-campaign-2000