Former PM Gordon Brown says more than 3 million children born after 2010 live in poverty.
Victoria Jones/PA Images/Alamy
Targeting benefits at the most vulnerable sounds like good sense – but a wider support system could be more effective at tackling poverty.
The use of food banks has skyrocketed. Here Prime Minister Justin Trudeau helps prepare a food box at Seva Food Bank in Mississauga, Ont., on Nov. 4, 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin
With food insecurity at an all-time high and food banks buckling under high demand as we head into this holiday season, experts say we need to focus on long-term solutions to tackle the issue at its root.
The Welsh UBI for care leavers pilot runs until 2025 and won’t be extended beyond that date.
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A UBI pilot in Wales gives a sum of money to young people leaving the care system. But it won’t be rolled out beyond its trial period.
Focusing on supposed individual failings belies the structural and systemic problems that perpetuate poverty.
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Momentum on basic income is growing in Canada. However, pervasive myths about poverty are making implementing the idea challenging.
The Crime Severity Index is calculated like a crime rate, but different crimes are given a different weight, or importance, based on their severity.
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Recent data from Statistics Canada shows crime rates in Canada rising. Crime has become a hot-button political issue in Canadian cities. But what does the data actually mean?
Work conditions have largely been absent from Canada’s federal income support network — an approach that differs greatly from the United States.
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The U.S. and Canada both have different approaches when it comes to work conditions and income assistance programs.
Prime Minster Justin Trudeau helps prepare a food box at a food bank in Mississauga, Ont., in November 2022. Food charity is not the solution to ending food insecurity in Canada.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin
Canada’s National Food Policy is slated for renewal later this year. Employment and Social Development Canada must be involved to develop income supports that reduce food insecurity.
A farmer at the Roots Community Food Centre urban farm in northwestern Ontario harvests Gete-Okosomin squash in summer 2021.
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A guaranteed basic income is a promising tool for contributing to sustainability and justice across agriculture and fishing sectors.
Putting money in the pockets of Canadians most in need via the grocery rebate or a guaranteed basic income has myriad benefits for people, families and the economy.
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Initiatives like the federal government’s new grocery rebate are only a small step towards ending food insecurity in Canada. A broader guaranteed basic income is long overdue.
The federal government’s grocery rebate will provide one-time monetary relief to 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians and families.
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The federal government should make the grocery rebate permanent by adding it to the GST/HST credit.
Produce vegetables are displayed for sale at a grocery store in Aylmer, Que. in May 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
While decent housing and food are fundamental human rights, they are often treated separately, and primarily as commodities. How can we tackle housing and food insecurity together, and better?
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Millions of people experiencing food poverty turn to food banks, and the number is growing.
With careful planning, a basic income system could be designed to be simple, adaptable, reliable and fair.
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Basic income should form part of a practical comprehensive plan for eliminating poverty in Canada.
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Challenges in evidence, long-term planning and public understanding mean that universal basic income has become easier said than done.
Mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous in Africa.
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To date, the program has provided nearly $10 million to roughly 137,000 of the country’s poorest citizens.
Unemployed men seek casual jobs from passers-by on a road in Cape Town, South Africa.
EFE-EPA/Nic Bothma
Recent developments in the organisation of production have led to the decline of wage employment across much of the world.
Starting in October 2021, SNAP benefits will be 25% higher than before the pandemic due to a lasting policy change.
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An economist explains what it would cost to give SNAP benefits to all Americans in households earning up to about $100,000 per year – and why it would be worth it.
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The pandemic has shown us the need for widespread security.
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We could do it for the price of tax cuts.
Justin Trudeau’s government initiated the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit to help people who lost their jobs during the pandemic. Why not make such a program permanent?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
The relative success of the CERB during the pandemic shows the time is finally right for a permanent basic annual income program.