Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life [Paperback]

 

 

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It has been known since the mid-19th century that living conditions are the primary determinants of health and well-being. Th e term poverty has come to stand for the situation whereby these living conditions produce material and social deprivation that seriously threaten health and reduce quality of life. It has also been known over this time that the incidence of poverty is primarily a result of how a society organizes and distributes its economic, social, and political resources. A century and a half of research and lived experience have confirmed these understandings. Th ere exists no research study that demonstrates that living in conditions of poverty is good for individuals, communities, or societies. Indeed, thousands of accumulated studies have come to the same basic conclusion: Th e incidence of poverty is a severe - if not the most severe - threat to the health and quality of life of individuals and communities in wealthy developed societies such as Canada.
This truism is recognized by decades of Canadian government and public health association statements, resolutions, and reports. It is found in many international covenants on human rights and human and social development to which Canada is a signatory. Indeed, an all-party resolution on child poverty'passed unanimously by the House of Commons on November 24, 1989, stated: 'This House seek(s) to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000.' More than 10 years after this deadline, Canada's child poverty rate continues to be among the highest in the developed world.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada's child poverty rate during the mid-2000s was 15%. Th is is the case even though Canada is a wealthier nation using the total value of goods and services or its Gross Domestic Product - than most other wealthy developed nations. As an example, Denmark is not as wealthy a nation as Canada, yet its child poverty rate during the mid- 2000s of 3.0% represents a virtual elimination of child poverty. Th is is also the case in many other European nations. There is evidence that Canadians appreciate that eliminating poverty is a worthwhile goal. Politicians and elected governments of every political stripe assure the public that poverty reduction is an important goal, and promise to address it. Indeed, many provinces have developed 'nti-poverty' strategies. Why, then, is so little being accomplished? An increasing body of research finds that poverty rates cannot be attributed to failings of individuals who live in poverty. Th ere are particular identities that make some individuals more susceptible to falling into poverty than others. These identities include being Aboriginal, having less education, living with a disability, being female, being a recent immigrant to Canada (especially one of colour), or being a lone parent.
But these identities do not by themselves create the situation of poverty. Poverty is more likely when these identities are present because the political and economic systems do not provide employment wages or social assistance benefits at a level for these individuals that allow for a life outside of poverty. And these situations are worsened when public policy does not provide affordable housing, child care, and responsive health and social services, thereby further straining the economic and social resources available to these vulnerable groups.
Poverty rates do not even depend upon the presence or absence of well-meaning intentions of policy-makers. Rather, rates reflect the general operation of the economy - heavily influenced by the politics - of a nation. Some indicators of these processes are wage levels, the percentage of low-paid workers within a nation, and the percentage of national resources or revenues invested in health and social services, education, employment and training, and other social infrastructure. In international comparisons, Canada performs poorly on all of these indicators.
More specifically, poverty rates reflect how a nation addresses key public policy issues of income distribution, employment security and working conditions, housing, income, and food security, and the creation and preservation of a network of health and social services. Th is basket of issues has come to be known as the social determinants of health.
But once such an analysis is done and Canada is found to be lacking, the question arises:Why is this the case? And to answer this, we need to understand the politics and economics - the political economy of a society.
The title of this volume, Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life, provides a roadmap for this exploration. First, I examine the nature and meaning of poverty in a wealthy industrialized nation such as Canada. Second, I consider the lived experience of poverty and what it means to those who live in poverty. Third, I answer the question of how the experience of poverty comes to shape the health and quality of life of individuals, communities, and societies. Fourth, my analysis focuses on how the incidence of poverty - and these health and quality-of-life outcomes - result from public policy decisions made by governments and what can be done to improve the situation.
Central to this exploration is analysis of how Canada' s political economy supports these public-policy decisions. Also important is the extent to which the public holds attitudes and values consistent with this political economy and the public-policy decisions that result from it. All of these factors will determine whether alternative visions for Canada - and the means of implementing these visions - are possible.
This second edition of Poverty in Canada updates the data on poverty rates in Canada and elsewhere and includes information on newly developed Canadian measures of deprivation. It expands analysis of how race and gender are increasingly coming to be associated with the incidence of poverty and places these developments in the context of the globalization of Canada's economy. The impacts of the recession of 2008-2009 are identified.
A new chapter examines various 'anti-poverty' strategies being implemented by the provinces and examines their potential for reducing the incidence of poverty and its adverse effects upon Canadians' health and quality of life. A revised final chapter concludes with an analysis of how poverty can be reduced through the building of social and political movements that will force elected leaders and policy-makers to enact public policy that reduces the incidence of poverty through action on the social determinants of health. Recent political developments provide some grounds for optimism. Many provinces have established 'anti-poverty' strategies and the Canadian Senate and House of Commons have produced extensive reports that identify the importance and means by which poverty can be reduced in Canada. These reports complement a recent Senate report on the social determinants of health. A private member's anti-poverty bill has been introduced in the House of Commons.
Against this, the ruling Conservative government in Ottawa has refused to even acknowledge that poverty in Canada is worthy of attention. Th e prospect of a more receptive minority federal government following a 2011 election is uncertain. The growing interest in proportional representation as means of sending elected officials to Canada's legislatures has the potential to produce more-poverty-sensitive members of governing legislatures. Since minority governments and the institution of proportional representation would probably lead to the enactment of progressive public policy in Canada that addresses the incidence of poverty and its adverse effects, such developments are to be encouraged.
In the first edition of Poverty in Canada, I suggested that Canada may be on the verge of adopting a societal vision that would reduce, if not eliminate, poverty in Canada. To date, the opposite -- the institution of policies that maintain or increase levels of poverty --has been the case. Hopefully, this volume will assist in the reversal of our current course of action and lead to the reduction, and possibly the elimination, of poverty in Canada.
Dennis Raphael
Toronto, Ontario
March 2011

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