Anti-poverty plan includes reducing racism, sexism, Duclos says

Thespec.com
Sept. 27, 2017

The federal minister in charge of crafting a plan to reduce poverty across Canada says the still-in-the-works strategy will attempt to tackle the racist and sexist hurdles that keep people poor.

Social Development Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says for reasons beyond their control, too many Canadians are prevented from fully taking part in their communities or in the labour market.

Duclos says combating those larger societal challenges has been a central theme in this week's federally organized meetings on the anti-poverty strategy.

The strategy will aim to connect federal, provincial, territorial and local efforts to reduce the number of Canadians living in poverty, with a forthcoming federal housing plan as a key pillar.

But first, the government has to define poverty and find a way to measure it to track progress on the plan - a task that's harder than it sounds.

Duclos says the government wants to measure poverty beyond pure income-based measures, delving more deeply into issues like food security, jobs and education.