Are we committed to protecting social and economic rights?
In November, Maytree released the 2018 update of Welfare in Canada, an annual series that tracks the total welfare income for four example households on social assistance in each province and territory. The resource, which was previously published by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, looks at the components of welfare income in each jurisdiction, and tracks the adequacy of welfare payments over time for social assistance recipients.
What the data pointed to was cause for concern. Even where welfare incomes were highest, they fell far below all three poverty thresholds commonly used in Canada. Further, we found that in 33 of the 52 scenarios tracked, welfare incomes did not keep pace with the cost of living. In these scenarios, despite a dollar increase in welfare incomes, families were actually worse off in 2018 than in 2017.
Maytree is tracking these numbers to monitor our progress on poverty in Canada. While it is true that many municipalities and most provinces and territories now have poverty reduction strategies, these numbers suggest we are moving backwards.
The Fall Economic Statement from the Ontario government contained no updates on its ongoing review of social assistance; that silence spoke volumes about the government’s priorities, as Garima Talwar Kapoor wrote for Maytree’s November opinion. We are still waiting to see how the poverty reduction strategy will unfold at the federal level. Meanwhile, the City of Toronto has an updated action plan for its poverty reduction strategy, but its success will depend on adequate funding through the 2020 budget process, as well as the targets outlined in the City’s new HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan.
This is the time for a collective push to ensure that our decision-making prioritizes the rights and dignities inherent in all of us. Whether that’s following through with a rights-based plan for housing or fully funding anti-poverty measures in the spring budget, let’s ask our policymakers to make the right choices.