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Archived - Roundtable on Solving Poverty: Summary
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The roundtable on Solving Poverty convened November 29, 2007, at a time when John Rook, Chair of the National Council of Welfare (NCW), declared that "poverty is out of the closet." With federal political parties making "policies and commitments on how to deal with the issue," participants considered the four strategic cornerstones in the NCW's report, Solving Poverty: a long-term vision with measurable targets and timelines; a plan of action and budget; a government accountability structure to ensure results; and a set of agreed poverty indicators.
Participants suggested various elements of a national vision, from the quantitative to the qualitative. Some provinces have set out specific targets to reduce the incidence of poverty. One non-government organization is looking for reductions in the poverty rate of 25% over five years and 50% over 10 years, aimed at aligning Canada with the 5% rate in Nordic countries. Participants debated the distinction between "poverty eradication" and "poverty reduction" as a long-term goal, with some groups suggesting a "good and decent society" as an outcome statement for government action.
Many participants linked poverty to social exclusion, and to a range of determinants like affordable housing, education, precarious employment, income insecurity, access to food, child care, and disability, not all of which are captured by income-based measures. They stressed the importance of speaking about and listening to people who are living in poverty, rather than objectifying poverty as "an issue," adding that social cohesion and mobilization are an important part of any solution. For many marginalized communities, including Aboriginal people, poverty is a matter of basic human rights.
A successful effort to reduce poverty will have a positive impact on the wider community and the general economy, participants stressed. Spending by lower-income households creates economic multipliers, and with a looming labour shortage, many employers can expect to rely more heavily on people who have been living in poverty. In New Brunswick, the business community hopes to weather the labour shortage by addressing poverty and early childhood development issues.
Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec were two jurisdictions whose poverty action plans received careful attention from roundtable participants. Discussion focused in part on broader objectives, such as promoting the respect and dignity of people living in poverty, reducing prejudice and inequalities, preventing social exclusion, reinforcing the social safety net, and mobilizing people to find jobs and become engaged in the process. With poverty emerging as a priority for four provinces covering about 80% of the Canadian population, a participant said a national action plan might emerge through a bottom-up process centred in local communities.
Indicators are an important way of demonstrating progress and putting a human face on poverty. Possible indicators include the percentage of households with substandard housing, the proportion of people in precarious jobs that pay less than a living wage, the impact of tax policies on high- and low-income earners, and the proportion of seriously disadvantaged people in the labour force. The group also discussed the value of different income indicators to monitor changes and assess progress in reducing poverty. Participants generally agreed on the need for a relatively small number of indicators that will be sufficient to support timely, effective action, even if the indicators themselves are not perfect.
The group discussed a variety of accountability structures for a national poverty strategy, including a government advisory committee, a national poverty commissioner, a non‑government research and observation centre that establishes poverty indicators, and multi‑stakeholder task forces. Any mechanism must be transparent and ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable are a central focus, and that the public, especially people living in poverty, is engaged.
2008-01-17