Each year up to 400 mostly Mexican workers come to Manitoba under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) to work on local farms. They perform physically strenuous work on vegetable farms and in greenhouses for up to eight months, year after year. Workers regularly toil twelve hours per day, six to seven days a week, and they live socially isolated from Canadian society.
Inequality and poverty
Social enterprises fill an important gap in Manitoba’s economy for those struggling to enter the workforce. The Manitoba provincial government has seen the value of investing in social enterprises through funding training and procuring housing retrofit services. This in combination with financing from the Manitoba Hydro Pay As You Save (PAYS) program is producing great results. For instance, 194 people are employed in the six social enterprises involved in this study. See report for full study.
This report calculates child poverty rates in Canada, and includes the rates on reserves and in territories—something never before examined. The report also disaggregates the statistics and identifies three tiers of poverty for children in Canada, finding the worst poverty experienced by status First Nation children (51%, rising to 60% for children on reserve).
In Canada, the worst child poverty is experienced by status First Nations children—51% of whom live in poverty. And that number rises to 60% when it comes to First Nations children living on reserve. Unfortunately, the devastatingly high child poverty on First Nations reserves is getting worse, not better.
OTTAWA – Les enfants autochtones du Canada sont deux fois et demie plus susceptibles de vivre dans la pauvreté que les enfants non autochtones, a révélé une étude dévoilée aujourd’hui par le Centre canadien de politiques alternatives (CCPA).
L’étude a calculé les taux de pauvreté dans les réserves et les territoires – des données qui n’avaient jamais été examinées auparavant. Elle désagrège les statistiques sur la pauvreté chez les enfants et dégage, chez les enfants du Canada, trois niveaux de pauvreté :
OTTAWA—Indigenous children in Canada are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than non-Indigenous children, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The study calculates poverty rates on reserves and in the territories—something never before examined. It disaggregates child poverty statistics and identifies three tiers of poverty for children in Canada:
This report drills down on one key but complex policy file that is essential to the province meeting its commitment to reduce poverty and to improve income security for both children and adults: social assistance.
At the end of 2015 The Conference Board of Canada predicted that in 2016, Manitoba’s economic activity would be second only to BC, with strong performance expected in the service, manufacturing and constructions sectors. The CBOC thinks we’ll see even stronger output in 2017. The Manitoba Bureau of Statistics (MBS) report, The Review 20141 , explains that “Manitoba’s labour market performance has been a strong indicator of its robust economy”. According to the report, Manitoba had one of the strongest labour markets in the country.
Elections are noisy and cluttered affairs that can make it difficult for some of the most promising, Manitoba-made policy innovations to get the attention they deserve. One of these policies is the use of day-to-day government purchasing to provide job and training opportunities for people with barriers to employment. Little-known outside the social enterprise sector, the Government of Manitoba is recognized as a national leader for using procurement to drive social change in our communities, which in turn is providing the government impressive savings.
Manitobans rate themselves to be a generous andcaring society. When natural disasters strike, we are the first to respond. Manitobans are Canada’s most reliable donors to causes both at home and abroad. So how is it that poverty continues to afflict more than 140,000 Manitobans, including 40,000 children? Quite simply, as dedicated volunteers at Manitoba’s many food banks and shelters confirm, poverty cannot be solved by charity. It requires determined collective effort through government policy and leadership.