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There has been poverty in Canada for about as long as there has been Canada. Researchers argue about the causes of poverty and how to solve them. But the fact remains that there is poverty in Canada and certain groups in Canadian society are struggling with poverty more than others. This paper is an overall look at poverty in Canada, who is struggling, why and what can be done to alleviate that poverty.
What is poverty?
The definition of poverty is much debated. Absolute and relative are two widely accepted categories of poverty, each with its own definition. According to A Dictionary of Sociology (2009), “Poverty defined in absolute terms refers to a state in which the individual lacks the resources necessary for subsistence.” If we only defined poverty this way, the poverty rate in Canada would be very low. Sociologists usually use the term absolute poverty when
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For example, all of the measures used in Canada are usually measured at the end of the year. During the year any number of changes might have been made to that family. There may have been an emergency that drained the family’s resources, which of course would not be shown as the measured used are only based on income. There may also be, for example, a single mother of three children who although officially lives off a low income, has the support of her friends and family and feels poverty less than someone without any social support. There is also the assumption that people living above low income lines do not live in poverty. They may receive enough income but may have to pay out more of it because they do not qualify for things like low income housing or other services geared to low income families. Measures of poverty are very useful for governments to decide where to put the country’s resources but they should not be seen as an absolute measure of poverty. Rather they should be seen as measuring poverty is a relative
Absolute poverty refers to when a person does not have the minimum amount of income needed to meet the minimum requirements for one or more basic living needs over an extended period of time. This includes things like, Food, Safe drinking water, Sanitation facilities Health, Shelter and Education. It can also be measure by those living on less than $1.25 a day.
In Canada there is no official, government mandated poverty line. It is generally agreed that poverty refers to the intersection of low-income and other dimensions of ‘social exclusion’, including things such as access to adequate housing, essential goods and services, health and well-being and community participation. In Canada, the gap between the rich and poor is on the rise, with four million people struggling to find decent affordable housing, (CHRA) and almost 21% of children in BC are living in poverty it is crucial to address poverty (Stats Can). In class we have considered a number of sociological lens to examine poverty. Structural-functionalists maintain that stratification and inequality are inevitable and
Poverty is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as a lack of something or when the quality of something is extremely low. All over the world, poverty is present. Charles Darwin once said in the Voyage of the Beagle: “if the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions” (Charles). First Nations across Canada are being put into a position of poverty and the Canadian Government are to blame. The Canadian government is only worsening the problem, rather than helping our First Peoples. The First Nations are disconnecting them from their traditional way of living, not funding their given lifestyle and not raising any awareness of the issue of Aboriginal poverty. But why should Canadian’s help the Aboriginals?
Poverty is difficult to describe and a major factor in determining poverty relies on where in globe you are choosing to focus, the culture that is being examined and the overall wealth of the country. For the sake of this paper I am choosing to discuss poverty in Canada, which by definition does not exist according to Canadian Counsel of Social Development (2004). Furthermore; I will discuss the Low Income Cut off Lines (LICO) which is commonly known as the ‘poverty line’ to help determine the poverty rate for Canadian women. “The situation of poverty among women in Canada is well established. More than half of all Canadians living in poverty are women. In total, approximately 19 percent of women in Canada live below the poverty line. Fifty-six percent of lone parent families headed by women are poor, compared with 24 percent of those headed by men. Almost half (49 percent) of single, wid...
Relative poverty is relative to the average standard of living in that person’s society. What is considered high income in one country could be considered middle or low income in another. If a family’s income is not enough to meet the average standard of living, they are considered to be in relative poverty. Absolute poverty is that the people do not even have basic necessities like a roof over their head, food, and water. Their only focus is on surviving each day as it
This paper focuses on proposing some useful methods to carry out research and collect relevant data in order to study and address an important and widely concerned issue in Canadian labour policy: “what’s the effect of minimum wage on poverty in Canada?” More specifically, this question can be represented as:
Canada is one of the most developed and accepting countries in the world, but it also has its fair share of inequality .We ask ourselves who really suffers inequality the most in the hands of the Canadian government? Well, according to many statistics and news headlines one can conclude that the First Nations people suffer the most in the hands of our government. Most aboriginal people face this issue because of the long history of abuse against them, and not being recovered for, and neglect by not giving the right living resources in reserves, and the racism and hatred towards First Nations people. Those were only a few various reasons why First Nations people suffer the most in the
Toronto is one of the largest multicultural city in Canada, with population of approximately 2.7 million people. Half of that people are immigrants from diverse communities and culture. The amount of growing communities is causing a scarcity of jobs and other problems, and also giving rise to the number of homeless people in the city. To overcome the situations of poverty, city council of Toronto has created many policies such as Fair Wage, Non – Discrimination to Environmental Responsible Procurement Program, and No Sweatshop. Apart from these policies, it is also implementing Social Procurement Program that promotes and contributes to making Toronto a reasonable and more decent place to live. One of the component of the program is to provide
Prior to taking this course and reading the chapter on poverty I felt poverty is when someone does not have the basic financial resources to enjoy a minimum standard way of life. The individual would not have the basic means such as food, shelter and clothing. After reading this chapter I realize that having those basic needs handed down is not sufficient. Someone who is transitioning through a difficult time needs hope, training, education and support. They need help in developing their capacity so they may have a decent pay and a place to live. It is hard when others judge you without knowing your struggles or are unable to relate. Not everyone starts living in extreme poverty, but circumstances can lead someone there. My assumption is that
There are 4.9 million people in Canada living in poverty, with an estimate of 1 out of 8 Canadians. 2014 recorded 274,530 Torontonians live in poverty, in means 1 of 5 Torontonians. Canada 2016 Census showed, Toronto has highest poverty rate of Canadian cities and 1.2 million children live in poverty. The data showed that the majority of these kids are from immigrant families and the immigrant families living in poverty is three times compare with non-immigrant families.
In today 's society, there is 1 in 7 people living in poverty which is costing Canadian citizens’ money as they are paying for taxes. There are many standpoints in which people examine the ways poverty affect society such as Marx’s conflict theory. Marx’s conflict theory goes over how social stratification being inevitable and how there is a class consciousness within people in the working class. Another way that poverty is scrutinized is by feminization. Feminization is the theory that will be explored throughout this essay. Poverty will be analyzed in this essay to determine the significance of poverty on the society and the implications that are produced.
The second measure is poverty gap index (P1) it measures the extent to which household fall under the poverty line (the poverty gaps) as a proportion of the poverty line. The addition of these poverty gaps gives the lowest cost of eradicating poverty, if transfers were perfectly targeted. But this measure does not show changes in inequality among the poor household. The third measurement is squared poverty gap (“poverty severity”) index (P2) it is averages the squares of the poverty gaps relative to the poverty line (All JH, 2005).
There are two ways to categorize poverty from a sociologist viewpoint. Absolute poverty simply refers to the condition in which one is unable to afford the necessities of life, whereas relative poverty refers to the condition in which one is unable to afford that which is considered a normal standard of living in society. Absolute poverty is far more worse than relative poverty because they could quite possible not have a house or food to live on for everyday survival. There are basically five different categories in which each poverty stricken person can be placed in. The first category are those who are not able to work because they are too old, too young, disabled, or tied down by social responsibility. The second category are those who are able and qualified to work but can not find work. The third category are those who are not equipped to fill available jobs either because they are undereducated or because their skills have become outdated. The fourth category are those whose social and personal problems have brought them to a point of self-defeating discouragement. The last category are those who are underpaid, or unable to get a fair price for what they have to sell. After defining which people are in poverty, these categories can answer my question of why are they in poverty and how they can be helped.
What is poverty? Well, according to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, poverty is "lack of money or material possessions; poor." Two-thirds of the world's population fits this definition. I know that many times we think of being poor as not being able to buy the car we want or take the trip we can only dream about. However, being poor, living in poverty, hits a lot lower than that. For example, a resident of the country of Chad will only bring in $100 each year. Since many people can make more than that in one week, some in one day, can you imagine having the feed a family of five or six, or even a family of two, on only $100 a year? These are the conditions that exist in poverty-stricken countries.
Poverty is an issue dealt with throughout the world, but we are not all aware of its conditions. Poverty is a very serious problem around the world. Poverty is defined as the equality of poorness and impoverishment -- (the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions). A question to ask ourselves is: “Should poverty be defined strictly in terms of monetary income, as opposed to some qualitative formula which takes into consideration styles of life as well as material possessions?” (Sheppard 13) Because there are so many different ways we can express the term poverty, maybe there should be a certain way we can determine poverty worldwide?