Yes, Canada will have poverty statistics

The demise of the National Council of Welfare, announced in the 2012 Budget, would have punched a huge hole in Canada’s social policy database.  The Council’s annual Welfare Incomes and Poverty Profile reports had for decades provided invaluable information on welfare and low income. Rather than simply lamenting this potential loss, the Caledon Institute of Social Policy is acting to rescue this important data by taking over its preparation and distribution. 

The welfare and poverty information will form part of a new Canada Social Report that will provide data and information on social programs and related tax benefits in Canada.  The Report will not only collect key program and socioeconomic statistics, but also undertake analyses that help explain the shape and implications of identified trends.  It will track and document major developments in social policy in a wide range of domains.

The first product of the Canada Social Report is already available, in the form of Caledon’s online Policy Monitor which tracks developments in federal and provincial/territorial social programs. The range will expand to include social policy developments at the municipal level.  During the rest of this year, the Canada Social Report will update the welfare incomes and poverty trends, and will prepare a study on minimum wages.  The project will grow over time, housed at Caledon but encouraging inputs from other organizations with an interest in social policy.