We are regularly asked what the poverty line is – and unfortunately there’s no simple answer. Canada’s Official Poverty Line is made up of 66 separate poverty lines, calculated by Statistics Canada, based on the size of the community and uses something called the Market Basket Measure. It’s calculated for a family of 4, and then further calculations are done for individuals and couples. These are the poverty lines in the largest city in each province, calculated monthly:

If you would like to learn more about the poverty line in your community, you can find it on the Statistics Canada website here.

Poverty and food insecurity in your riding

This wonderful resource by our friends at Community Food Centres Canada (CFCC) allows you to gether a number of statistics within your riding. Simply type in your address, and it provides statiscs on poverty, food insecurity, number of households, disability among other statistics. You can download the report. There is also a place to email your MP to tell them that Canada needs better income policies to reduce poverty and food insecurity!