Like many Canadians, I have grown increasingly concerned about the level of poverty in our country—and I imagine that Americans are feeling the same. Poverty is all around us; it is enough to step outside and see the growing number of encampments or people who can’t afford their groceries. 

All of this has left me wrestling with questions: how can poverty exist in a country with so much wealth? What can we do as individuals and as communities to change the grim circumstances that our neighbours are facing? 

Recently, I had the enlightening experience of working on a newly published report, Poverty Trends 2025: Pathways from Poverty to Rights & Well-being, through a student internship at Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ). CPJ is a Canada-wide organization of members who are inspired by faith to act for social and environmental justice in Canadian public policy. I myself am not a policy analyst, but the opportunity to learn, research, and share insights with CPJ’s staff has been transformative. I want to share what I learned in contributing to this report, because it maps out a pathway to a life of rights and well-being for all of us, regardless of where we live.

What do we mean when we say ‘poverty,’ exactly?

We tend to think of poverty as a condition of inadequate income, but I invite you to think about it from the perspective of overall well-being and a life of dignity. While income is a key puzzle piece, a certain dollar value on a paycheque does not guarantee a life without poverty. The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifies several rights that everyone has, such as the rights to food, clothing, and housing. Taken all together, many more Canadians are deprived of a life with these rights than their income would indicate, meaning many more Canadians are living in poverty than we might expect. 

Canada’s official measure of poverty is the Market Basket Measure (MBM), which estimates how much a basket of basic goods might cost a family and whether their income is sufficient to meet those needs. Using the MBM, the national average for poverty is 10.9 per cent. That number may not seem high, but the MBM is an approximation; it doesn’t capture the full scope of people experiencing poverty. Here are just a few of the experiences it doesn’t capture: 25.5 per cent of Canadians living in the provinces and 41.2 per cent of female-led single-parent households live with food insecurity. Despite guarantees of universal healthcare, 14.2 per cent of people with low-income report unmet healthcare needs. Additionally, there were a reported 40,000 Canadians experiencing homelessness in 2024. 

The picture is even worse when we look at the experiences of groups who have suffered the most historically: Indigenous and recent immigrant communities experience poverty and food insecurity at the highest rate in the country. There are currently 39 active drinking water advisories across 37 First Nations communities. 20 per cent of people experiencing homelessness are racialized, 45 per cent are on social assistance, and 22 per cent of people evicted from their homes in 2022 reported having a disability. 

Getting real: is this acceptable to us?

When we look inward, and reflect on our values for goodness and mercy, how can we tolerate this situation? I am inspired by James 2:15-17 which states “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” 

It is our responsibility to take action. Above all, what I have learned during my CPJ placement is that these experiences of poverty are neither natural nor inevitable; they are the result of policy choices, and we have the knowledge and the tools to choose better. There are policy solutions that are evidence based and that have been demonstrated to work through real world case studies. It is paramount that these policy interventions target the communities who experience the greatest need. 

The solutions: income supports, social services, and progressive taxation

The pathway from poverty to rights and well-being requires our leaders to make better policy choices, whether they be in relation to income, housing, or social services.

Ultimately, people need a livable income in order to enjoy a life of well-being and rights. In Canada, we currently have a patchwork of programs that put money in people’s pockets. Some of these have been shown to reduce the impact of poverty, but a key recommendation in Poverty Trends is that the government should increase amounts for these benefits and expand their eligibility criteria. Moreover, the report recommends that we should introduce a basic income program to bolster these transfers.

Similarly, investment in publicly funded, publicly delivered health and social services is crucial. Implementation of single-payer pharmacare, healthcare, and dental care would greatly benefit people’s ability to meet their healthcare needs. Additionally, Poverty Trends recommends providing stability and security through adequate housing by investing in accessible, non-market housing, reducing for-profit housing, and implementing regulatory controls. 

It is not lost on me that these policy recommendations come at a cost, and you might wonder where the money will come from. The fact is, we have an effective and achievable solution: progressive taxation. In Canada and the U.S., wealth is extremely concentrated among just a few earners. In Canada, the top 0.01 per cent of earners make up 1,800 families. These folks hold a 5.7 per cent share of total net wealth in the country. This is nearly double the total net wealth of the bottom 40 per cent of earners, who make up just over 7 million families. In addition to generating needed revenue, taxes can be used to ensure all members of society (including corporations) are contributing to the advancement of our collective well-being and a more equitable sharing of resources and power.

What can everyday people do?

I know that these seem like big picture ideas—and they are. Thankfully, we all have a role to play in upholding our human rights obligations and cultivating our mutual well-being on a daily basis. You don’t need to be a policy analyst to learn about issues that impact our communities.

The information and ideas in Poverty Trends are accessible, making it a great resource to share with your loved ones, your community, and your government representatives. It’s available to download for free on CPJ’s website. You can add your voice to the broader movement for economic justice by endorsing our Call to Action to end poverty, advance rights, and improve well-being. 

Through collective action and advocacy, we have the power to set our communities down the pathway from poverty to rights and well-being.