On
Pathways to a Better Future aims to break the cycle of poverty and is guided by the vision that: “All Manitobans have resources, opportunities and access to achieve a better quality of life.”
The Manitoba government held extensive consultations to inform the development of the new strategy from November 2017 to March 2018 and encouraged those at highest risk of poverty, including persons with disabilities, Indigenous people, newcomers and vulnerable youth to share their perspectives. Approximately 2,000 Manitobans participated in the consultations through community conversations, workshops, an open call for written submissions and an online survey. In person sessions were held in Winnipeg, Selkirk, Brandon, Thompson, Flin Flon, The Pas and Dauphin, and more than 1,500 Manitobans responded to the online survey.
The strategy weaves in much of what the government heard through the consultation process, and will focus on 13 key indicators and initiatives in the following six priority areas:
The key target of the Pathways to a Better Future strategy is to reduce the child poverty rate by 25 per cent by 2025, relative to the 2015 baseline. Data released by Statistics Canada from the 2017 Canadian Income Survey already shows a 20 percent improvement in Manitoba’s child poverty rate and a 7 percent improvement to Manitoba’s overall poverty rate since 2016. Manitoba now ranks second lowest among the provinces in poverty.
The new strategy also acknowledges the need to foster relationships across sectors to address a shared responsibility to reduce poverty and promote social inclusion for all Manitobans. Several of the province’s partnerships with community-based agencies, service providers, Indigenous partners and other governments are mentioned throughout the strategy. For example, the Vital Statistics Agency is working with federal, provincial and municipal partners to increase the number of children in Manitoba accessing the Canada Learning Bond. Similarly, the Manitoba government is collaborating with community organizations to increase awareness and access to the Registered Disability Savings Plan.
The province also emphasizes synergies between the Pathways for a Better Future strategy with the Opportunity for All national poverty reduction strategy and recognizes the Government of Canada as a partner in the development of the Manitoba plan. Eight of the 13 renewed indicators of Manitoba’s poverty reduction strategy are also included in the federal strategy, which will allow for comparison trends with other provinces and territories:
The Manitoba government states that it will also work with the Federal Government and other partners to support the national goals of reducing the poverty rate across Canada by 20 per cent by 2020, and by 50 per cent by 2030.
Pathways to a Better Future: Manitoba’s Poverty Reduction Strategy can be accessed from https://www.gov.mb.ca/povertyreduction/.
Quick Facts:
Take your Learning Further: