SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

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Actions for SDG 1

Collaborate with a public or private entity for this social purpose ⬇

  • Have alliances with social entities to this end
  • Donate to poverty-related social projects
  • Promote anti-poverty initiatives
  • Involve employees and stakeholders in social actions against poverty

Establish measures and agreements to enrich our environment at the economic and social level ⬇

  • Invite stakeholders to propose ideas and activities that help eradicate poverty
  • Participate in projects that improve environment economically and socially
  • Prioritize hiring local people close to your economic and social environment
  • Participate in forums and discussions on this particular issue
  • Recruit, train and employ local community members, including those living in poverty, and integrate them in your value chain (as producers, suppliers, distributors, vendors)

Participate in international, solidarity, humanitarian or similar cooperation projects ⬇

  • Collaborate with projects that collect clothing for people at risk of social exclusion
  • Buy Fair Trade products from humanitarian projects
  • Engage with NGOs that encourage and assist people at risk of social exclusion
  • Contribute a percentage of annual revenue to projects in developing countries
  • Develop products and services tailored for poor customers (e.g. mobile based money transfer services for unbanked consumers).
  • Improve access to basic goods and services for people living in poverty (e.g. through core business, policy dialogue, social investment)
  • Invest in business-driven poverty eradication activities (e.g. develop living wage policy)
  • Partner with civil society networks to provide education and entrepreneurial skills training

SDG 1 in Canada

While Canada is prosperous, not all Canadians are ⬇

  • The latest data from the Canadian Income Survey indicates that the overall rate of low income was 10.6% in 2016 based on the Market Basket Measure (MBM).
  • Low-income rates dropped between 2015 and 2016, a positive sign that recent policy decisions and the growing economy are helping Canada progress toward reaching SDG 1, but roughly 1 in 10 Canadians continue to live in poverty. For many Canadians, having a job is not always enough to exit poverty: over 1 million working Canadians fell below low-income lines in 2016.

Certain groups in Canada are more likely to have low incomes ⬇

  • The issues facing these groups go beyond insufficient income to include structural barriers and challenges that limit their ability to prosper, e.g. discrimination, worklimiting disability or illness and social exclusion. The groups are:
  • Single people aged 45-64, who face particularly high rates of poverty and unemployment. These Canadians are eligible for relatively fewer social protection measures in comparison to families with children and seniors, and they may not have access to the same networks and support systems that individuals attached to families often benefit from. Also, a large proportion of these individuals are challenged by disabilities and/or unemployment.
  • Lone parents, the vast majority of which are women, who continue to face disproportionate rates of poverty along with challenges in balancing work and family life.
  • Recent immigrants to Canada, who often face language barriers, discrimination, difficulty having their educational and professional credentials recognized, and challenges from a lack of Canadian work experience.
  • Indigenous people in Canada, who continue to face disproportionate rates of poverty, inequities and poorer outcomes linked to their unique histories in Canada, which involved disconnections from their lands, cultural practices and communities. Social exclusion based on racism, lack of equity in funding, disproportionate presence in the justice system and food insecurity in remote communities are some of the key issues affecting Indigenous peoples that speak to persistent gaps in meeting their needs through Canada’s social protection system. While low-income data is currently not available for Indigenous people who live on reserves, both living conditions and statistics on educational and employment outcomes suggest that the poverty rate on reserve is higher than off reserve.
  • Persons with disabilities, who face barriers that increase their risk of living in poverty, with some facing barriers so severe that they cannot work. For people with severe disabilities with no attachment to the work force, income support from most provincial social assistance systems is below low-income lines, indicating a gap in social protection that can leave some Canadians to face poverty as a direct result of their work-limiting disability. Persons with developmental disabilities face unique barriers to social integration despite being willing and capable of participating in an urban life and the labour market.

Improve national and global health and well-being ⬇

  • Improving mental health and preventing mental illness is a crosscutting priority for the Government of Canada. Working collaboratively, the Government invests in a range of initiatives and programs to improve the availability and quality of mental health services, promote positive mental health and contribute to the prevention of mental illness and suicide
  • Canada routinely engages a range of public health stakeholders, including regional health authorities, NGOs and disease-specific organizations, and is committed to continuing to enhance stakeholder relations. As part of these efforts, the Chief Public Health Officer’s Health Professional Forum was established in January 2018 to facilitate enhanced relationships with national health professional organizations and collaboratively advance public health priorities
  • Through significant engagement at the WHO and other key multilateral forums, Canada advances this approach on important issues including gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and global health security.

Canada’s overall low-income rate is similar for women and men, with important disparities ⬇

  • Women comprise 60% of single, low-income seniors. One in 3 single mothers are poor, which negatively affects their children’s health and outcomes in school, and often leads to lasting effects across generations. This is particularly true for Indigenous women, who are more likely to be single mothers.

Poverty and health are closely connected ⬇

  • Regarding access to affordable and nutritious food, 8.3% of Canadian households reported moderate or severe food insecurity in 2011-2012. Food insecurity is more prevalent among households with children, which leaves a significant mark on their well-being. Across Canada, northern and remote locations generally experience much higher rates of food insecurity than elsewhere.

Canada's strategy to reduce poverty ⬇

  • Since 2015, Canada has focused on growth that benefits everyone, investing in reducing poverty from coast to coast to coast. Some of these investments, like the taxfree Canada Child Benefit (CCB), are having an immediate impact in reducing poverty and making a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Canadians by bolstering benefits to families with children. Other investments, such as Early Learning and Child Care, the National Housing Strategy, public transit infrastructure and home care and mental health, are laying the foundation for changing lives of Canadians in the years to come.
  • To help Canadian children get the best start in life and better support Canadian families, Canada has announced major new investments to support and create more high-quality, affordable child care across the country, particularly for families more in need through early learning and child-care agreements.
  • In 2017, the Government of Canada also announced a historic agreement with provincial and territorial governments: the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework. The Framework will seek to increase the quality, accessibility, affordability, flexibility and inclusivity in early learning and child care, in particular for families that need child care the most.
  • Through the Canadian Workers Benefit (CWB), beginning in 2019 lowincome Canadians will get an added financial boost to the money they take home from work
  • The introduction of the Old Age Security pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement significantly reduced poverty among seniors, and the Government has continued to strengthen it
  • Through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP), community organizations host free tax preparation clinics, where volunteers complete tax returns for Canadians with low income and a simple tax situation. This program targets groups disproportionally affected by poverty in Canada, such as Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, and recent immigrants.
  • As part of the National Housing Strategy, the Government announced a total investment of $2.2 billion over 10 years to tackle homelessness through an expanded federal homelessness program.

There are many investments and initiatives at the provincial and territorial level in Canada ⬇

  • Quebec was the first province to release a strategy (in 2002) and Saskatchewan, the most recent (in 2016). In keeping with their Poverty Reduction Strategy Act, the Province of Manitoba recently conducted public consultations to review and update their strategy. The results are anticipated to be released in 2018. Some municipalities (e.g. Calgary, Edmonton, Saint John, Toronto) also have poverty reduction strategies.
  • Recently the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario have either increased or announced their intent to increase their provincial minimum wage rate to $15 an hour. This will help many Canadians who experience poverty despite working.
  • The Province of Ontario is currently conducting a pilot project to study the impact of basic income in three specific pilot locations (launched in 2017). As part of this project, a group of eligible applicants are receiving monthly basic income payments (regardless of employment status) for up to 3 years. Results of this project will be analysed and reported after its completion.
  • The Province of Quebec has recently announced a guaranteed income policy for long-term social assistance recipients with a severely limited capacity for employment. Under this policy, persons in Quebec who have a severely limited capacity for employment and have received social assistance in 66 of the past 72 months are projected to have disposable incomes matching or surpassing the MBM line by 2023.
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