Hi there,

The November BC Communities Ending Poverty CoP explored BC Living Wage calculations that were released across the country to coincide with the UK's Living Wage Week November 14th - 20th. We heard from Anastasia French, Provincial Manager of Living Wage for Families BC, Iglika Ivanova, from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Diana Gibson, Executive Director of the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria, and Carolyn Gibson, Program Coordinator of the Golden Community Economic Development Society.

The conversation shed light on the 2022 calculations - what has changed, and what this means for individuals and households and the ability to make ends meet in Canada today. 

Key Takeaways

Calculating the living wage:

• Is a tool that can be used to engage in conversations around the cost of living, advocate to higher levels of government and target strategies
  
  
• Exposes key areas of potential intervention (e.g. housing, food, transportation, child care)
  
  
• Identifies key areas where government policy makes a significant difference (e.g. child care subsidies in BC)
  
  
• Sets a target for employers and pushes business to do better; 97% of certified living wage employers identify direct benefits to their business (e.g. staff recruitment & retention, morale, productivity, publicity)
  
  
• Shows how many rural communities are experiencing urban-like pressures, driving up cost

"As the most expensive community in Canada, I am starting to realize the there is no silver bullet solution – creating an affordable community is the responsibility of community, businesses, and all levels of government.  Community programs are key to resilience and creating affordable access to food and services, businesses need to invest in employee programs (in addition to wages), Federal/ provincial government needs to invest in appropriate subsidy and benefit programs, and the municipality needs to invest in community development in addition to affordable housing." Lisa Brown, Canmore Alberta (Alberta Living Wage Network)

Resources

• Living Wage for Families BC
• Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 
• Alberta Living Wage Network
• Ontario Living Wage Network
• REPORT | Working for a Living Wage: Making Paid Work meet basic family needs in Metro Vancouver (Technical Appendix)
• BLOG | Living Wage Week 2022 and Our Current Call to Action

Featured Learning Opportunities 

SERIES | The End of Poverty Pathways - Publication, Podcast, Online Course

WEBINAR | The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth and Power of Neighbourhoods

OPPORTUNITY | Join Tamarack's Communities Ending Poverty network - Learn more or reach out to Jill for further information!

Thank you to everyone who attended. Our next call will be in January 2023 (Date TBD). Adrienne Montani from First Call BC will be on hand to review highlights from the 2022 Child Poverty Report Card. Stay tuned! We look forward to seeing you then.

Best,

Jill Zacharias (she/her)

BC Manager of Growth and Impact - Communities Ending Poverty
Vibrant Communities - Tamarack Institute

250.814.3875
www.tamarackcommunity.ca

Settler on the traditional land of four nations:  the Sinixt, the Ktunaxa, the Secwepemc and the Syilx.