Breaking the Cycle Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy

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Recommended: Poverty being a social problem

“Pretending that you forgot your lunch” “Being afraid to tell your mom that you need gym shoes at school” (Network, 2007)

Child poverty is not something that is often discussed in Ontario, but it is a real issue for millions of children that have to live it every day. Breaking the Cycle is a provincial program designed to eliminate poverty by 25% in five years for children, their families and the overall community. In this paper I will discuss the background of poverty in Ontario, and the people who are more likely to be affected by it. Secondly, I will introduce a new provincial program called Breaking the Cycle: Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy and the desired goals for the province of Ontario. Thirdly, I will discuss the outcomes of the programs designed to eliminate poverty and the progress it has made on the province of Ontario.

Background of Poverty in Ontario

“Ontario has more than 12.1 million residents. Many of Ontario residents have to struggle to live on low incomes and as a result are financially insecure. The 2006 Census revealed that of the 12 million Ontarians living in private households, 11.1% (approximately 1.3 million men, women and children) had an after-tax income at or below the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) established by Statistics Canada (Statistics Canada, 2008c). More than 318,000 Ontarians resort to food banks monthly (Ontario Association of Food Banks, 2008, p. 5). In Ontario’s Waterloo region (population 478,121), an estimated 4,832 individuals aged 16 years and older used emergency shelters in 2006; in Hamilton (population 504,559), 400 people used emergency shelters on a given night in November 2006 (up from 160 in a similar survey conducted in 1995); shelter use in Toronto (population 2.5 ...

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...to families and help to make a more positive atmosphere for the children that are living in poverty. Since the program has been integrated into society there have been significant, positive changes for society. Although Ontarians still have another three years to test the water and see if the changes actually do make an impact on families in poverty, Ontario is on the right track, and perhaps setting a way for the rest of Canada to follow.

References:

Cycle, B. t. (2010). Breaking the Cycle Second Annual Report: Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy, 2010 Report. Ottawa: Government of Ontario.

Maxwell, G. (2009). Poverty in Ontario: . Community Development Halton: Social Planning Network of Ontario, 1-34.

Network, C. P. (2007). Child Povety Quotes. Retrieved December 11, 2010, from Renfew County: http://www.renfrewcountycpan.ca/child-poverty-quotes.cfm

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