When Vicky Levack went searching for a census form she assumed missing she discovered Stats Can wants management of the nursing home where she resides to fill out the form on her behalf. “But I’m a citizen,” Levack told the census operator.“You don’t need to worry about it,” they replied.
Filling out your census form if you can’t afford Internet and with the libraries closed is very difficult. Journalist Kendall Worth did some great advocating and has some good news.
The lockdown is making it hard to meet the census deadline for people who cannot afford Internet access or phones, writes Kendall Worth in an open letter to the minister in charge.
We have been reporting on the release of the Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia for many years now. And year after year the news is grim.
41,370 children, one in four, live in poverty in Nova Scotia. For children under six that number is actually almost one in three!
It’s hard to fathom how politicians can shrug off these horrendous numbers, especially given that we know that solutions exist, and all it takes is political will.
Since 1989 child poverty in Nova Scotia decreased by less than one percent. One in four kids lives in poverty, for kids younger than 2 years, that is one in three! Let that sink in. And numbers for African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaw kids are much higher again.
Nova Scotia leads the country in the shameful categories of share of the population living in poverty and share of children living in poverty. In fact, child poverty increased in Nova Scotia in 2017. Canada-wide however, poverty stats declined substantially. What’s going on?
Many poverty advocates say there is lots wrong with a new definition of poverty that the federal government wants to entrench in legislation as part of its recently announced anti-poverty strategy.
It’s hard to care about this stuff, but it is very important. How you precisely define poverty may well determine whether you are eligible for support programs, food banks, energy rebates, etc. It may even determine whether you qualify for social assistance as is the case in Quebec.
The results of the 2018 Statistics Canada disabilities survey are in. More than in any other province people in Nova Scotia self-identify as disabled in some shape or form, and that’s not just because we have a large share of older people, as is so often assumed.
A recently published report shows that incomes for people on welfare in Nova Scotia are terribly insufficient, and on a downward trajectory. They are also by and large the lowest in Canada.
We’ve written quite a bit lately on 2015 census data and what they tell us about poverty from a geographic perspective. Now there is a report that looks at trends over the last 30 years. Which neighborhoods are getting poorer, which ones are getting wealthier?