News from our Thornhill location: Wha is Proverty? (Canadian Edition)

What Is Proverty?

                By: Bernice Chong (BC)

   Proverty in Canada has the following statistics about the current reality. Did you know 1 in 7 (or 4.9 million) people in Canada are living with poverty. In Edmonton, 1 to 8 individuals were living with proverties. Between 1980 and 2005, the average earnings among the least wealthy Canadians fell by 20%.

Currently, an income inequality measure known as low income cut-off (LICO) published by Statistics Canada is frequently used as a poverty rate and is 10.8% as of 2005. Statistics Canada is looking into creating an initiative on how to better calculate the poverty line.

Disabilities & Special Needs: It is part of proverty because, it can lead through jobs loss and reduce earnings, barriers to education skills development, significant additional expenses, and many other challanges. So, it goes by hand by those who are in need. Proverty is shared to 14.3% of Canadians. Women with disabilites had exprience lower rates of participation labour force. It is less access to income support programs and higher rates of proverty.

Natural Disasters: It ispart of proverty because in many regions, risk is growing. Deforestation, overgrazing, and land degradation have damaged Canadian ecosystems, and are  exacerbating the risks of disasters such as floods, tornados, earthquake, and landslides. Very often, it is women who are most affected by disasters in Canada.  In 2015, the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan adopted a framework that emphasises better understanding of risk, governance systems to manage risk, building resilience, as well as enhancing response and recovery. Local governments in Canada can engage citizens in preparing for natural disasters, developing response and relief plans with the participation of local communities.