The Latest

Dispelling Poverty Myths in New Westminster

The City of New Westminster’s Poverty Mythbusters report dispels stereotypes around the demographics of people living in poverty, pathways into poverty, working poverty, and child poverty. It was created by the New Westminster Community Poverty Reduction Initiative, a diverse group of non-profit organizations and government agencies involved in fighting poverty in New Westminster.

In 2015, a survey and focus group with people living in poverty identified stigma and a lack of community understanding of what it’s like to live in poverty as a major issue.

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Will Alberta Win the War on Poverty?

If you’ve been paying attention to the news from Alberta recently, you’ll know that some significant changes have taken place with regards to poverty in the Wild Rose province.

On February 26, Statistics Canada released the results of the Canadian Income Survey and announced that Alberta's child poverty rate was cut in half between 2015 and 2017, falling from 10 per cent to five per cent. This means that 44,000 fewer children are living in poverty. Over the same two-year period, poverty rates for children of single mothers dropped from 36 to 17.6 per cent.

The significant drop in child poverty occurred largely because of federal and provincial tax benefits, including the Canada Child and the Alberta Child Benefit — a policy proposal introduced by former PC premier Jim Prentice and later enacted under Rachel Notley’s NDP government.

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Ending Chronic Homelessness in Kawartha and Haliburton

Significant progress has been made in the City of Kawartha and County of Haliburton in ending chronic homelessness. A new report shows that to date, they have reduced chronic homelessness by 51%.

Housing and Homelessness is a key priority of Kawartha-Haliburton’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. The poverty reduction effort is a joint initiative between the City of Kawartha and County of Haliburton, and is comprised of:

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Launching Modest Canadians’ Savings to the Next Level

Saving for a rainy day let alone saving for future retirement are luxuries few can afford on low and modest incomes. The current system is set up to benefit higher income earners who are greatly rewarded for their contributions in the short and long term to TFSAs (Tax-Free Savings Accounts), RRPs (Registered Pension Plans) or RRSPs (Registered Retirement Savings Plans), of which only 65% of Canadians contribute to.

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The Cascading Effects of Childcare

The cost of childcare accounts for a significant expense in families. It is a barrier to employment and a barrier to prosperity for many households. Families are faced with the decision of whether it is truly worth it to work. Some opt to not work at all due to the cost cancelling out or even making them worse off financially. This takes them out of the workforce for longer which can make it more challenging in getting back into it. It can take them out of higher education opportunities because of the sheer double cost associated with fees on top of fees. And some are faced with less than ideal childcare arrangements. It trickles out to whether they can pay the rent, it affects the quality of food they eat, whether they go deeper in debt or can save for the future, to having negative consequences on the country’s economic growth.

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Tamarack Featured in The Record on Fight Against Poverty

Ending poverty is ‘the most important thing to do if you want peace in the world’ – Paul Born

Last month we were thrilled to have our Co-CEO, Paul Born, sit down with The Record to talk about Tamarack’s work in the fight to end poverty as well as an exciting new $2-million partnership with the federal government to support this work moving forward. 

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