Introduction
PROJECT
From 2021-2024, Campaign 2000, Citizens for Public Justice and Canada Without Poverty co-led a national community-based research project that engaged communities experiencing poverty to recommend indicators measuring progress towards eradicating poverty and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This project, Localizing Canada’s Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals,builds on Campaign 2000’s ongoing monitoring of government progress towards ending child and family poverty, aiming to address the limitations of the Canadian Indicator Framework for tracking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically SDG 1: No Poverty.
Through the project, the research team held 17 community conversations with 227 people affected by poverty and intersecting forms of marginalization in every province and territory. The project website hosts summaries of each community conversation.
This local framework is based on the knowledge and experiences shared by participants in the St. Stephen community conversation, co-hosted by Vibrant Communities Charlotte County, Horizon Community Health, Future St. Stephen, and the Human Development Council of Saint John on August 9, 2022.
FINDINGS
Measurement of progress towards poverty eradication in Canada should reflect the lived realities of people experiencing poverty. The indicators used in the Canadian Indicator Framework for measuring progress towards SDG 1: No Poverty are the Market Basket Measure (MBM) and the prevalence of asset resilience.[i] Campaign 2000 report cards and early research from this project highlighted the limitations of these two indicators to track progress towards SDG 1.[ii] [iii]
The project set out to address these gaps with an emphasis on localizing measures of poverty reduction and centring the knowledge and experience of lived experts. Local visions of communities free from poverty emerged. The frameworks drawn from this research reflect participants’ subjective, multidimensional experience of poverty, which is wide-ranging, affects every aspect of life, and differs place to place and community to community. The frameworks also reflect poverty as a violation of human rights resulting in short- and long- term physical, mental, spiritual, and social harm.
These findings highlight the importance of community-based, culturally relevant, localized measures and indicators for ending poverty and the need to urgently recognize and address the systemic intersecting power structures that create and deepen inequities and experiences of poverty.
In addition to the 17 local frameworks, the findings are illustrated in a National Community-Based Indicator Framework, intended to supplement the Canadian Indicator Framework. It outlines dimensions, measures, indicators, and data sources for poverty eradication (including recommendations and gaps, where no indicators exist) that reflect the knowledge and experiences of lived experts and community organizations across the country.
While the findings depict a broad range of expertise from across the country, they remain a snapshot of 227 people, in 17 places, at one moment in time, and further engagement and community-based research is required to continue to centre lived experts in the work of poverty eradication and achieving the 2030 Agenda.
UNDERSTANDING THE FRAMEWORK
The entire framework falls under Sustainable Development Goal 1: End Poverty in All its Forms Everywhere.
The framework is organized by 12 interdependent dimensions of communities with no poverty. These dimensions are interconnected and non-hierarchical – all connect and contribute to the multifaceted way that people experience poverty in Canada. Many of the indicators could fall under multiple dimensions, but for the sake of length, they are each only shown under one.
Dimensions:
- Social inclusion and community connection
- Equality, justice, and freedom
- Joy, happiness, and hope for the future
- Income and material security
- Decent work
- Education for all
- Right to housing is realized
- Food security and sovereignty
- Health and mental health
- Equitable access to services, programs, and supports
- Connected and supported families and children
- Accountable and engaged governments and institutions
In each dimension, measures refer to qualities of communities with no poverty.
Indicators are statistical definitions of the measures.
As living documents, the local frameworks offer Example Indicators and Data Sources. The local frameworks are intended to complement the National Framework, highlight local priorities, and demonstrate opportunities for continued work in localizing measurement towards ending poverty in Canada. They are accompanied by living action recommendation documents.
Social inclusion and community connection
Community members feel valued and connected, have opportunities to participate in society and culture, care for and support each other, and live in harmony.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Everyone is valued | ||
Feeling connected to your community | Example: Percentage of population aged 12 and over who reported a sense of belonging to their local community as being very strong or somewhat strong. | New Brunswick Wellbeing Indicators, Statistics Canada Table 13-10-0096-01 |
People share with their neighbours | ||
Being able to help others | ||
Feeling like you can ask for help | Example: Percentage of people who often or always feel they have people they can depend on to help them when they really need it. | Statistics Canada Social Survey and Community Health Survey |
Everyone contributes to the community according to their strengths | ||
Community members collaborate to address challenges | ||
Communities have gatherings and share meals | ||
People from different backgrounds gather and connect | ||
Different generations are connected | ||
Everyone is celebrated | ||
Having a person to cheer you on | ||
Everybody has a friend | ||
Trusting your neighbours | ||
Communities have public places for people to gather and connect, like libraries |
Equality, justice, and freedom
Everyone’s human rights are upheld. Communities are free from systemic inequality and injustice, discrimination, oppression, violence, and trauma, and the harms of colonization.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Everyone can live in dignity | ||
Everyone is respected | ||
Freedom from stigma, discrimination, judgment, and bias | ||
Freedom from abuse and violence | ||
Freedom from wealth and income inequality | ||
Freedom from stigma of receiving social assistance | ||
Wealth is not valued above people | ||
People are not blamed for experiencing poverty | ||
Communities are united, not divided | ||
Freedom from violence against women | ||
Feeling safe walking in your community at night |
Joy, happiness and hope for the future
Everyone is able to be happy, feel ease, and have the time and freedom to enjoy life. People have hope, can imagine the future, and don’t feel trapped in cycles of poverty and isolation.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Feeling optimistic and hopeful for the future | ||
Freedom from struggling | ||
Freedom from despair | ||
Freedom from feeling trapped | ||
Having choices | ||
Being able to have fun | ||
Being able to laugh | ||
Seeing people smile in your community | ||
Being able to identify things that are working well in your life and community | ||
Having faith | ||
Having access to live music | ||
Creativity is nurtured |
Income and material security
Incomes reflect the cost of living. People have the ability to pay all their bills, meet all their basic needs, have some flexibility to not live paycheque to paycheque, and are able to thrive.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Everyone can meet their basic needs | Example: Census Family Low Income Measure | T1 Family File |
Everyone has enough money to pay for all their bills at once | ||
Freedom from worry about paying bills | ||
Freedom from having to decide between rent and food | ||
Everyone has clean clothes | ||
Everyone has access to a phone and internet | ||
Being able to save money | ||
Having disposable income | ||
Incomes reflect the cost of living | ||
Incomes allow you to live in your own community | ||
Minimum wage is a living wage | ||
Social assistance rates reflect the cost of living and increase with inflation | ||
Being able to meet your needs and thrive is not tied to working |
Decent work
People can work in jobs with a living wage, safe work conditions, opportunities for growth, and job training. Work is fulfilling and allows people to use their skills.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
There are enough job opportunities for everyone who wants to work | ||
Employment income allows you to live in your own community | ||
Local wages and salaries are competitive with the rest of the country | ||
Minimum wage is a living wage | ||
Having a job is not a reflection of your worth as a person |
Education for all
Everyone has equitable access to affordable, quality education, training, and learning supports.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Children are educated |
Right to housing is realized
Everyone has a home. There is adequate, affordable secure housing for all, free from discrimination, and reflecting the needs of communities and neighbourhoods.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Everyone has a home | ||
Housing is affordable | ||
Utilities are regulated and affordable | ||
People with disabilities have affordable, accessible housing | ||
Freedom from housing discrimination for people receiving social assistance | ||
Rent is regulated and affordable | ||
Freedom from eviction | ||
Freedom from fear of eviction | ||
Rental housing is inspected and regulated | ||
Existing buildings are used for housing and emergency shelter | ||
Everyone has access to emergency shelter | ||
Men have access to emergency shelter | ||
No waitlists for housing | ||
Access to cooperative housing |
Food sovereignty and security
Everyone has access to nutritious, affordable, culturally appropriate food; the ability to hunt, harvest, grow, and share food according to cultural values; and the freedom to choose what they want to eat.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Everyone has enough to eat | ||
Everyone can afford food | ||
People share meals and cook together | ||
Communities grow their own food | ||
Children have enough to eat | ||
Schools have breakfast programs | ||
Parents are free from worry about not having enough to feed children |
Health and mental health
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Everyone is mentally healthy | ||
Everyone has access to mental health care |
Equitable access to services, programs, and supports
Services and supports are accessible and coordinated, with no arbitrary bureaucratic barriers or discrimination. Community organizations are resourced and are by communities, for communities.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Services and programs are well-communicated in various formats | ||
Services and programs are low-barrier with few eligibility requirements | ||
Knowing where to find resources | ||
Services are well-coordinated and communicate and collaborate with each other | ||
It feels easy to access services and get the help you need | ||
Feeling like service providers care about you | ||
Community organizations are well-funded and can grow their capacity | ||
Schools have breakfast programs that are accessible to all children | ||
Everyone has access to affordable, accessible transportation |
Connected and supported families and children
Families are supported to stay together and spend time together. The child welfare system is equitable, trauma-informed, and reflects needs of children and families. Everyone has access to affordable childcare.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Parents have time to spend with children | ||
Families are connected | ||
Family members drop by each other’s houses | ||
Family members value each other |
Accountable and engaged governments and institutions
Governments are accountable to communities. Policy-making is community-engaged, trauma-informed, responsive, and based on local needs and values.
Measure | Indicator | Data Source |
Governments make systemic changes to address systemic issues | ||
Politicians show up to community gatherings and events | ||
Politicians respond to community concerns | ||
Policies reflect local needs and values | ||
Governments meet with community members to understand their experiences and ideas |
[i] Statistics Canada. (2021). The Canadian Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals. Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-26-0004/112600042021001-eng.htm
[ii] Campaign 2000. Pandemic Lessons: Ending Child and Family Poverty is Possible. February 14, 2023. https://campaign2000.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/English-Pandemic-Lessons_Ending-Child-and-Family-Poverty-is-Possible_2022-National-Report-Card-on-Child-and-Family-Poverty.pdf
[iii] Barrie, H., & Sarangi, L. (2022). Literature Review: Localizing Canada’s Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty. https://sdg.campaign2000.ca/wp-content/uploads/Campaign-2000-Localizing-SDGs-Project-Literature-Review-May-2022.pdf