Hidden beneath the Saskatchewan government’s much vaunted narrative of provincial economic prosperity is a more troubling story of how the most vulnerable in our province are faring. While Premier Scott Moe is quick to promote any and all positive economic indicators, his government has remained disturbingly silent on the growing and deepening poverty in our province.
Despite having some of the worst poverty indicators in the country, the provincial government has not really made an attempt to seriously address the issue for more than a decade. In 2016, the government released their one and only attempt at a poverty reduction strategy. That plan—which was widely criticized as being inadequate by its own advisory group members—at least made the promise to reduce “enduring poverty (lasting two years or longer) by 50 per cent by 2025.”
It is probably best for the government that this promise has largely been forgotten, because as we approach 10 years since that promise was made, poverty in Saskatchewan—and in particular child poverty—not only growing, but deepening.
Over 78,000 children under the age of 18 in Saskatchewan were in poverty in 2023, a child poverty rate of 27.1 per cent. This is well above Canada’s national child poverty rate of 18.3 percent and is the highest child poverty rate of all the provinces.
Children under six in Saskatchewan fare even worse, with a 30.39 per cent poverty rate—almost one-third of children in the province. Almost one out of every two children in lone-parent families in Saskatchewan are poor, with a poverty rate of 49.4 per cent.
Compounding these rather bleak statistics is the depth of poverty in our province—a term which refers to how far below the poverty line a family’s income falls in relation to the after-tax low-income measure (LIM). It is often referred to as the ‘low-income’ or ‘poverty gap.’ Saskatchewan low-income families have the largest poverty gaps of all the provinces, with only Nunavut and the NorthWest Territories recording larger poverty gaps in certain economic families.
Within Saskatchewan, child poverty rates can vary dramatically depending on location. If we view poverty rates by economic region within the province we can see major disparities, particularly between urban versus more rural and northern areas of the province. Indeed, northern areas of the province are subject to enduringly high levels of poverty for children under 18, with rates over 60 per cent.
Government transfers in the form of child tax benefits, tax credits, and social assistance were important in helping to reduce poverty in the province. For Saskatchewan in 2023, the child poverty rate of 27.1 per cent would have been 39.2 per cent without these federal and provincial government transfers. Despite arguments that employment alone is the best route out of poverty, Saskatchewan’s child poverty rate of 27.1 percent would be more than 10 points higher (37.5 per cent) were Saskatchewan families to rely on market income alone. Even with employment earnings, many families are still below the poverty line, with government transfers an essential source of income.
We know that government transfers to low-income families can make all the difference. Saskatchewan should seriously consider adopting some of what other provinces are doing to address poverty. This could include creating a supplementary provincial child benefit, indexing social assistance rates to inflation and introducing a provincial sales tax rebate. Affordability for low-income families could also be addressed by seriously considering a limit on annual rent increases and ensuring wider accessibility of $10 per day childcare.
The Saskatchewan government’s long record of neglect has left us with some of the worst economic outcomes for children in the country. This makes it all the more incumbent on this government to make child poverty in Saskatchewan a far greater priority. We need a much more concerted effort by the Saskatchewan government to combat the deleterious effects poverty will have on the next generation of our province’s children if it is continued to be ignored.
