tvo.org/whypoverty

REFERENCES

1: The People for Education. The Measure of Success: What Really Counts. Toronto: The People for Education, 2011. Print.

2,3: Ciuffetelli Parker, Darlene, and Joseph Flessa. Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario. Poverty and Schools in Ontario: How Seven Elementary Schools are Working to Improve Education. Toronto: Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, 2011. Print.

4,6,10: Ontario. Children and Youth Services. Breaking the Cycle: Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy 2011 Annual Report. Toronto: Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2011. Print.

5 Ontario. Children's Aid Society of Toronto. Greater Trouble in Greater Toronto: Child Poverty in the GTA. Toronto: Children's Aid Society of Toronto, 2008. Print.

6, 7: Goodman, Matthew. Hamilton Community Foundation. Poverty Reduction Background Paper: Income Integration of Schools. Hamilton: Hamilton Community Foundation, 2010. Print.

8: Ferguson, HB et al. "The impact of poverty on educational outcomes for children." Paediatrics Child Health. 12.8 (2007): n. page. Web.

10: Ferguson, HB et al. "The impact of poverty on educatonal outcomes for children." Paediatrics Child Health. 12.8 (2007): n. page. Web.

• One in six Ontario children live in poverty.1

• The rate of poverty is 50% higher for aboriginal children, children of colour, and children of female single-parents.2

• 47% of new immigrant children live in poverty.3

*Chen is a statistical representation of the poorest kids living in Ontario.

Chen is 9.He immigrated with his mother from China.

His father isn’t in his life. They live in public housing.

• In low-income neighbourhoods, as many as 68% of kids come to school without eating.4

• In families that use food banks, 77% of their income goes to rent.5

• Students in schools with a Student Nutrition Program perform 9-16% higher in EQAO tests in reading, writing and math.6

Chen’s mother works nights in a factory.

She’s asleep on school mornings. Chen has to get breakfast for himself, but often he can’t find anything to eat.

Chen would benefitfrom a breakfastprogram and ESL training at his school.

Access to resources can affect his ability to succeed in school.• Child poverty accounts for 21% of the risk of poor

school performance.7

• Students in families that earn less than $30,000 a year score 20-30% lower on grade 3 EQAO math and literacy tests than kids in families that earn more than $100,000 a year. The gap widens in grade 6.8

• 50% of Ontario students who drop out of high school live in families earning less than $30,000 a year.9

• Ontario plans to triple Parenting and Family Literacy Centres to 300 across the province.10

POVERTY & EDUCATIONA DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CHILD LIVING IN POVERTY IN ONTARIO

tvo.org/whypoverty

POVERTY IN CANADA

POVERTY”“The chances of being

impoverished... are not set by a lottery-like mechanism, in which everyone’s number has the same odds of coming up.-Ontario Association of Food Banks, “The Cost of Poverty”

BritishColumbia

Alberta

Manitoba/Saskatchewan

Ontario

Quebec

Atlantic

Poverty affects3 Million

Canadians1

Had to sleep in the street or a shelter

10%7%5%6%5%9%

26%12%17%22%24%24%

Received help from a food bank or charity

are children2

PERCENTAGE OF CANADIANS:5

1 in 5

loneparents seniorsunattached

non-elderlychildren AboriginalCanadians

recentimmigrants

people withdisabilities

These Canadians are more likely than others to live in poverty:4

51%

11%

37%

Survey: What's the cause of poverty in Canada?8

“Circumstances beyond the control of the poor.”

Respondent unsure

“People aren’t doing enough to help themselves”

4.7% Iceland5.3% Finland6.1% Netherlands6.1% Norway6.5% Denmark7.3% Sweden7.3% Austria8.1% Switzerland8.4% Ireland8.5% Germany8.8% France10.2% Belgium10.9% Australia11% AVERAGE7

12.1% United Kingdom12.3% Luxembourg13.3% CANADA14.9% Japan15.9% Italy17.1% Spain23.1% USA

Children inPoverty:

Wheredoes

Canadastand?6

5: The Salvation Army. “Canada Speaks: Exposing Persistent Myths About the 150,000 Canadians Living on the Streets.” May 2011. 6: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, “Innocenti Report Card 10: Measuring Child Poverty: New league tables of child poverty in the world’s rich countries.” 2012.

7: Ibid. Average based on 35 industrialized countries.

8: Angus Reid. “Canada and United States Concerned Over Poverty: North American Poll: Canada & U.S.” 2007.

REFERENCES

1, 2: United Nations Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on the right to food: Visit to Canada from 6 to 16 May 2012.” May 2012.

3: Ontario Association of Food Banks. “The Cost of Poverty: An Analysis of the Economic Cost of Poverty in Ontario.” November 2008.

4: Murphy, Brian, Xuelin Zhang and Claude Dionne. “Low Income in Canada: a Multi-line and Multi-index Perspective.” Statistics Canada: Income Statistics Division. March 2012.