Social Policy Lowlights Despite pundits’ claims that “its not as bad as it could be” there are a myriad of program cuts and tax cuts in this budget. As the weeks go by more impacts will invariably be felt in our community. Yet poverty and social inequality continue to grow…
Mark Milke argues in today’s Vancouver Sun that massive and growing inequality is not a serious problem. In his mind, anyone concerned about the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us must simply suffer from a bad case of envy. It is unfortunate that the Sun chose…
Why BC needs a poverty reduction plan Download 1.86 MB 44 pages BC is Canada’s only province without a poverty reduction plan. This report examines the most recent statistics on poverty and its associated hardships in BC, and demonstrates that strong policies are urgently needed to dramatically reduce and ultimately…
https://vimeo.com/3670687 Susan is an advocate at First United Church in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside — the poorest neighbourhood in Canada. The church lets homeless people take shelter and sleep in the pews. There are more than 2600 homeless people in Vancouver, BC, and the province of BC has the highest poverty…
https://vimeo.com/3670615 Richard receives disability benefits through British Columbia’s welfare program. Disability benefits are very low (less than $1000 a month in a city where the average one bedroom apartment costs that much). Richard lived on the streets for many years while he waited to get into social housing — he…
June 1 – 7th is our second annual Supporter Drive Week. Help us continue to be your local source for alternative policy ideas and analysis. When was the first time you heard about the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) Manitoba? It may have been through the community-based research we…
Today we learned that Rights and Democracy — an agency established by Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1988 to monitor human rights and democratic development internationally — has been terminated. The closure follows similar shutdowns by the Harper Conservatives of organizations that bear witness to these trends internationally, such as…
Latin American countries deepen integration, defy the U.S. On December 3-4, 2011, a historic meeting of all 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries took place in Caracas, Venezuela. It was a gathering that significantly advanced the Latin American Revolution. The Presidents of these nations assembled to inaugurate a new regional…
Three weeks ago, a 19-year-old from Winnipeg’s inner city shot two teenagers. Our city government’s response was to send in more police officers. But incarceration and tougher sentences do not tackle the root causes of crime: poverty and inequality. On the other hand, if inner city youth had the kind…
Attachments Bringing Minimum Wages Above the Poverty Line SUMMARY: Bringing Minimum Wages Above the Poverty Line
Chris Devers / Flickr” style=”border-radius:0px;–objectFit:cover;–imagePosX:50%;–imagePosY:50%” decoding=”async” srcset=”https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-sep2016-investing-in-youth-aging-out-300×133.jpg 300w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-sep2016-investing-in-youth-aging-out-768×341.jpg 768w, https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/policynote-sep2016-investing-in-youth-aging-out.jpg 900w” sizes=”(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px” />It should be enough to know that it is the right thing to do. We should support foster youth in their transition to adulthood—youth for whom we are collectively responsible—in the same way that families support their own children. But we don’t. Over 60% of 20-24 year olds in BC live in…
Thanks to Jean Swanson for drawing to my attention a new report from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities called Mending Canada’s frayed social safety net: The role of municipal governments. The report looks at key social indicators in 24 Canadian municipalities, and contains some stark findings for Vancouver. Jean summarizes…