While the province is experiencing a growing economy, not everyone has been experiencing that same economic growth. According to a recent report from Poverty Free Saskatchewan, the poverty rate of the province is at 15.3 per cent, significantly higher than the national average of 14.5 per cent.
Sydney Bell, Co-Chair of Poverty Free Sask., says the report is designed to spur discussion on the topic of poverty, so that the province can develop an action plan with communities. The main reason that we, as a province, need to come up with an action plan is to avoid the many problems which are inherent with a high poverty rate, Bell says, is to prevent the many issues that are inherent with high poverty rates.
"We need to look especially at the gap between the rich and the poor... Take the example of the United States. It's one of the richest nations in the world, but it has some of the greatest social issues that result from the gap between the rich and the poor, with violence, hunger and drug use, and all of those things which tend to increase with a large gap... Yet, there are a lot of nations in Europe which aren't nearly as rich as the US, but don't have as many problems because the gap is much smaller."
The costs of poverty are wide ranging, Bell notes, both monetary and social costs. She says that people are often excluded from participating in the community, and that there are also severe health risks associated with the problem. The health problems have costs both for the people themselves, and for the province.
"Poverty costs us in intensely increased health costs. There was a study done in Saskatoon a couple of years ago, a health disparity report, that showed really alarming statistics about the increased likelihood of disease and health concerns for people who live in poverty."
The statistics in the report show that low income families are 165 per cent more likely to have diabetes, for example, and 3360 per cent more likely to have Hepatitis C. The benefits of reducing poverty would then both decrease health costs and increase the quality of life dramatically. Two groups the report states are most at risk are Aboriginal children and children in female single-parent homes.
Bell says that the issues surrounding Aboriginal families are complex, involving issues such as racism, the lingering after-effects of residential schools, and other wide ranging problems. She says that it is important to involve Aboriginal communities in any plan in order to fully understand the issues they face.
Bell believes that one of the issues facing single parent families is a lack of good quality, accessible childcare, which she believes is limiting the opportunities facing single parent homes.
"Parenting on your own without a web of support is a challenge," Bell says. One important factor in any action plan, she adds, is having it developed on the community level. She says that as the issues which would face the poor in Yorkton would be significantly different from the issues in Saskatoon or northern Saskatchewan, community based devlopments would be the only way to effectively combat problems in each area.
"We really believe that people who have the lived experience of poverty are really what we call the professors of poverty. They really know what it's like to live as a result of policies that are implemented, and if you're going to make change that is effective, we feel it is vital to provide that perspective to that plan," she states.
Bell encourages people to visit Poverty Free Saskatchewan's website at www.povertyfreesask.ca, read the report and participate in the discussion of poverty in the province. Bell says that the involvement of people across the province is important for any action plan to succeed.
