Western Canada Leads

Western Canada- Leading Canada's Poverty Reduction Success

Together, we aim to support and accelerate Western Canada’s leadership in poverty reduction. The project seeks to both tell the story of regional success and equip 10 Western communities to measure, plan, and report on poverty reduction at a community-wide scale.

The big idea is that locally empowered, multi-sector partnerships can eliminate poverty by addressing systemic root causes. Through Tamarack’s structured, multi-year model, communities will:

1. Establish inclusive leadership tables.

2. Identify local root causes and set measurable five-year poverty reduction targets.

3. Implement aligned cross-sector strategies.

4. Mobilize residents, governments, and businesses around shared accountability.

5. Report tangible reductions in poverty using improved community-level data.

The overarching goal: contribute to a Canada where the national poverty rate falls and remains below 5%.

These Communities are accelerating their efforts, together

Localized work to reduce poverty contributes to long-term, upstream and systemic shifts. When people work together across sectors, a collective impact approach can target and impact localized issues, such as the fulsome development and implementation of  community-wide poverty reduction strategies. 

Western Canada Leads is comprised of 10 communities across BC, Alberta and Manitoba who are working locally across sectors to significantly reduce poverty in their communities. One part Community of Practice, one part peer mentorship, and one part learning cohort, we are grateful to support the inspiring collective work of 10 small-to-mid-sized communities in Reducing Poverty in BC, AB and MB. 

The WCL cohort is working to cultivate data-informed, equity-driven collaborations that honor both the human and systemic dimensions of poverty reduction. Communities are learning to combine stories and numbers for deeper understanding, design with empathy, build momentum through early wins, and maintain sustainability through shared accountability and learning. 

Thank you to all cohort communities past, present and future for supporting this project.  

Collaboration Creates Lasting Change

Our methodology is centered in the conviction that local collaboration between residents, non-profits, governments, and businesses creates more effective and lasting systems change than isolated programmatic efforts.

Tamarack’s approach is based on four levers for community change:

1. Understanding the Field & Engaging System Actors

   • Identify and amplify local innovations.

   • Map systemic barriers and opportunities.

   • Engage governments, businesses, and citizens in shared accountability.

2. Strengthening Local Capacity

   • Provide coaching, convening, and training.

   • Build collaborative leadership and data literacy.

   • Foster peer learning across communities.

3. Making Local Work Visible and Coherent

   • Elevate successful community strategies and tools.

   • Disseminate progress reports and public awareness materials.

   • Share lessons nationally to strengthen the overall movement.

4. Nudging Systems Change

   • Facilitate cross-jurisdictional policy dialogues.

   • Promote shifts in municipal and provincial policy.

   • Influence national narratives about poverty, resilience, and inclusion.

Each lever reinforces Tamarack’s theory of change — that when diverse sectors align around shared outcomes, local systems can reduce poverty across an entire geography, not just programs or their participants.

Intended Outcomes

By the end of this multi-year initiative:

• 5 communities will report measurable, community-wide reductions in poverty.

• 10 communities will have poverty reduction strategies with clear, data-driven baselines and five-year targets.

• Local partnerships will demonstrate new policy shifts, collaborative infrastructure, and sustainability plans.

• National impact: Strengthened cross-community learning and evidence of Western Canada’s leadership in achieving and sustaining poverty rates below 5%.

WCL Toolshare