The Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force is advocating for more support for people in need ahead of International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Coordinator Jill Umbach says across the country and in Grey Bruce, one in four people experienced food insecurity in 2024. Additionally the number of people experiencing homelessness nearly doubled since 2018.
She adds the region also continues to have the second highest required living wage in Ontario, while also having some of the lowest wages in the province. The annual Living Wage Report from the United Way of Bruce Grey released last year shows people in the region need to make $23.05 an hour to make ends meet.
To meet the increase in poverty, Umbach says there are many supports across the region and from the federal government.
“Last week there was an announcement by the federal government on where they wanted to move forward. One of those was automatic tax filing and another was confirming that they will put more money into the program for a national food program across all schools in Canada,” says Umbach. “We have been advocating for a national food program for a long time at the Poverty Task Force and we have felt that there hasn’t been enough investment. We know that in our Grey Bruce area, we still have wonderful programs such as OSHaRE and other community meals and local foodbanks supplementing lunch programs in schools. There is definitely a need in Grey Bruce to have more money coming down from the provincial government and the federal government to ensure that our children in our schools have a nutritious lunch.”
She adds while progress is being made to address poverty in the region and across Canada, more work can be done.
“There is also other things that we would advocate,” says Umbach. “Housing is a number one topic and we have discussed this in the past as the Poverty Task Force most recently in partnership with the United Way, we put out a large budget recommendation to the federal government called Build for Good and in that, we looked at what dollars would need to be spent on building deeply affordable and supportive housing.”
A release from the Poverty Task Force says local organizations are urging governments to commit to poverty reduction by strengthening income supports like the Canada Child Benefit and the Canada Workers Benefit, as well as raising the Canada Disability Benefit, ensuring universal and affordable childcare, and working with communities directly.
“I think the message really is that we can do this together. We do have an elbows up Canada right now in terms of our dynamics with the United States, but I think it is really important for us to also consider that poverty is something that is a system wide issue and structurally, we can make changes that will benefit our neighbours and our friends. We feel that while we are doing some incredible work on the front lines, feeding people, housing people, we also need to look at how our system is and how we can improve peoples lives in our communities,” says Umbach.
A webinar is being held on Friday from noon to 2 p.m. on poverty and inequity in Canada. More details can be found on the task force’s website here.