Poverty strategy a starting point, advocates say

The federal government announced the first-ever national poverty reduction strategy on Tuesday, aiming to reduce Canada’s poverty rate by 50 per cent by 2030.

Anti-poverty organizations in Saskatchewan say it’s a good start but more work remains to be done in the future. Alex Paterson, policy and research manager for the organization Upstream, which studies the links between health and poverty and how government policies affect the long-term health of Canadians, said the government’s reduction goal is still lower than he would like.

“When you read the (United Nations) sustainable development goals on poverty, the minimum you can do to meet the goal is a 50 per cent reduction,” he said.

“That’s not your gold star — if you get a star, it’s the bronze star.”

Paterson said going beyond a 50 per cent reduction would not only save government money in both the health care and justice systems, it would also allow people who had been living in poverty to participate in the economy to a much greater extent.

Though the announcement of the strategy did not bring along any new funding for anti-poverty initiatives, it has brought together the potential for about $22 billion worth of previously announced longer term benefits — in areas including health, housing, transportation, childcare and employment.

FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron said while he is happy to see the government develop a strategy to deal with poverty, it will be significantly more difficult to get results without direct funding. He noted the majority of people living in poverty are Indigenous and their experience is much different than that of people of different ethnicities.

“(Indigenous) people are suffering on a daily basis with no food, no education or employment opportunities. Well, those take investments and if we are going to live in this world together and work together as we hear the term reconciliation, but the time for talk is over; there has to be action — and part of that action is investment,” he said.

United Way of Saskatoon CEO Shaun Dyer disagrees with this stance. Just because no new money is being invested, that doesn’t mean the strategy won’t be able to help reduce of poverty rates, he said, noting that the United Way’s national office was involved in consultations for the strategy.

Dyer sees the announcement as more of a first step in a long-term vision. “It’s not just about throwing money at something or at some specific group of people,” he said. “The establishment and the real commitment to the market basket measure is going to provide data that I think sooner rather than later will see resources directed in the places that evidence-focused data reveals.”

The “market basket measure” is a main goal within the strategy to create an official measure of income poverty based on the cost of goods and services families require to meet basic needs and sustain a modest living standard — a measure both Dyer and Paterson are eager to see in action.

Having an official measure of poverty throughout Canada will also keep the government more accountable in meeting these goals over the coming years, Paterson said. Dyer said another way the government can be held to account is through the strategy’s creation of an independent advisory panel.