A new report on child poverty showed that on average single parents in the N.W.T. need about $20,000 more per year to reach the poverty threshold. They also found number of children living in poverty in Canada doubled between 2019 to 2023.
Families living in poverty are living in “deeper poverty,” according to national statistics and first hand observations of community groups.
Campaign 2000, a coalition of more than 120 community organizations from across the country, examined child and family poverty using the latest data available from 2023. Each year, for more than 35 years they have collected data and analyzed patterns of poverty across the country.
“We hear about families going without purchasing medication, unable to put gas in their car, to transport their kids,” says Leila Sarangi, the coalition’s national director.
This week the group released their annual report card on child and family poverty in Canada. The study drew from 2023 Stats Canada data along with tax filer data.
Sarangi said the latest available data from 2023 showed that on average 18.3 per cent, or about one in five kids, live in poverty in Canada. The stats show that for those in the N.W.T. 24.1 per cent, “almost 1 in 4 kids” live in poverty, said Sarangi.
As Sarangi pointed out, stats are notoriously difficult to collect in the North, which means that the numbers could be higher or lower. Tax filer data is also lower in remote communities and does not show demographic information about people’s cultural backgrounds. Using tax filer data makes it hard to trace patterns like groups experiencing the highest rates of poverty.
Food Banks Canada released a report earlier this fall on the experience of poverty across the country. The researchers reported they were unable to assess poverty in the territory because of low numbers of survey participants among a total population of about 45,950 people (NWT Bureau of Statistics).
Researchers from Stats Canada as well as Campaign 2000 and Food Banks Canada have all noted that data collection is a problem in the North.
While statistical data is “not good” in the North by all accounts, it does reflect broader country wide patterns. The data shown in the report card on poverty also reflects the observations of community organizations.
Food bank usage in Yellowknife reflects some of the same patterns Sarangi has found.
Tony Brushett, executive director of the city’s main food bank at the Salvation Army in Yellowknife, said there has been an increase of about 20 to 25 per cent of people relying on the food bank.
Brushett reported that in the last two years, he has seen a growing number of families and individuals relying on the food bank.
About 100 families per week were accessing the food bank in December.
Brushett also noted the same pattern Sarangi reported, of a widening and deepening gap between people who are living in poverty and those with high incomes.
Data from the report card showed that income inequality widened in 2023. Families in the top 10 per cent income bracket earned 19 times more than families in the lowest 10 per cent bracket, said Sarangi.
“While families at the lower end of the income spectrum are falling into deeper poverty, the data is showing that families in the higher income spectrum, their wealth is increasing. Their incomes are increasing at a much, much faster rate.”
Sarangi said the gap between families in low income and families in higher incomes has widened, especially since 2015.
What that means is that wealth is growing in Canada, but it’s unequally distributed, explained Sarangi.
Like Brushett, Sarangi noted that in the last few years there have been noted increases in poverty among families with children.
More people from previously less common demographic pools are experiencing poverty, as reported by both Sarangi and Brushett.
“I’ve been doing this for decades but here in Yellowknife if I compare the demographics from when I came here two and a half years ago to now, we’re seeing a lot more families now,” Brushett said this fall.
“I would say 70 per cent of our clientele back then were either single or just couples, not many children, but now it’s not uncommon for us to have large families in here everyday at the food bank itself. And that is something that is fairly new in the last year or so,” he added.
Sarangi said data from 2022 showed the poverty rate “jumped” up to 29.1 per cent for kids under 6 years old in the N.W.T. According to the data, the national rate was 19.1.
While the rate improved slightly in the 2023 data, the data still showed that the number of children experiencing poverty in the territory increased.
Sarangi explained that with the cost of living on the rise, the families and children are increasingly feeling the impacts.
Looking at data collected in the N.W.T., Sarangi said the poverty rate was lower in the city of Yellowknife in comparison to rural communities.
“The poverty rate is lower in the city, 14.5 percent,” said Sarangi.
“The poverty rate for the rest of the territory is 32 [per cent]. So it’s much higher in those areas that are more rural more remote that are outside of of the city of Yellowknife.”
Sarangi said the impacts on families is devastating.
“This means that families are making really difficult decisions every day about how they’re going to spend the little income that they do have,” she said.
Sarangi said with the rates of food insecurity rising, the coalition has heard from parents who will skip their own meals, so they can feed their children.
“We’ve even been hearing about older kids and families, skipping meals so their younger siblings can eat.”
The coation has heard from families using more than half of their income to cover expenses like rent.
“Families will spend more than 50 percent of their income sometimes 60, 70 or 80 percent of their income on shelter alone.”
This leaves little to pay for other expenses.
“We hear about families going without purchasing medication, unable to put gas in their car, to transport their kids.”
Brushett observed similar patterns in the families he has spoken with who use the food bank.
There are invisible but equally dangerous affects on people, said Sarangi.
“This really leads to unnecessarily high levels of stress for parents, for caregivers, for the families.”
Children also feel stigmatized by poverty, which can put them at added risk for being bullied and experiencing anxiety, added Sarangi.
“The big red flag that we are trying to shed a light on is those families that are living in poverty are living in deeper poverty. And so what that means is they have less income to meet their basic or their daily needs. Their incomes are falling further away from the low-income threshold.”
Sarangi said according to the data, in the N.W.T., a single parent with one child earns about $18, 700 dollars per year on average.
“The gap, the amount of additional income they would need to bring them up to the poverty line is an additional $18, 695.”
What that means is that the single parent would need about two times their income just to get to the poverty threshold, explained Sarangi.
While poverty numbers and rates decreased incrementally from 2000 to 2018, the data shows poverty is moving in the “wrong direction” since 2021.
Across the country, the number of children documented to be living in “severely food-insecure” households doubled between 2019 to 2023 according to the data in the report.
“Child poverty rose for the third consecutive year, with nearly 30,000 additional children falling into poverty. Today, 802,000 children (10.7%) live in poverty using Canada’s official measure, and nearly 1.4 million children live in poverty using a broader income measure. At the current pace, it would take almost 400 years to end child poverty in Canada,” said the report’s authors.
Advocates with the community organizations in the coalition group said that while the data showed that the Canada Child Benefit prevented more than 580,000 children from falling into poverty in 2023, “its impact has weakened over time.”
Sarangi said while there has been “some progress” with the groceries benefit and an increase to the GST benefit, as well as universal pharmacare and dental care, what is needed is “more robust” social infrastructure and investment.
“Government supports remain critical but are no longer keeping pace with the cost of living,” she said.
Sarangi said the coalition is calling on the federal government to increase the Canada Child Benefit through a CCB End Poverty Supplement. They also want the government to increase affordable child care and housing.
