Photo credit: Habitat and humanity
An innovative approach to poverty is being examined to alleviate the needs of people who are struggling to make ends meet.
The Standard reports that Food Banks Canada has released a report that illuminates poverty in Canada. It argues that shifting from the current standard Market Basket Measure to a Material Deprivation Index can better identify poverty and its impacts.
An MDI is being used in Europe to determine tangible and intangible aspects of poverty and is growing in popularity in Canada among poverty experts and advocates.
According to Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. statistics from 2021, the median after-tax for Ontario families is just over $69,000, compared to the average of $79,000, which could result in more people depending on assistance programs here.
According to Prof. Joannie Heritz of Brock University, the DMI provides a better understanding of people’s needs compared to the MBM, which calculates the cost of a specific basket of goods and services, representing the basic standard of living for a family of four in Canada.
In the report, Food Banks Canada said despite the MBM being a basket of necessities, “they are not basic necessities in the sense of allowing a person to survive for another day.”
But it is a current living standard and is meant to “reflect a modest standard of living for the reference family.”
The report looked at transportation, protein, bills, clothing, dental care, transportation, and unexpected expenses, among other deprivation items most people struggle to get by with. It concluded that over 37 percent of people were deprived of one or more of the items. 62 percent stated that no deprivation items existed for them.
