Humane Exposures Blog

According to the United Way, it’s estimated that

Photo by Susan Madden Lankford

200,000 Canadians will be homeless this year. On any given night 30,000 people are without a place to call home. In the last five years 1,300,000 Canadians have experienced homelessness. Canada is in midst of a federal election. Anti-poverty and housing advocates are calling on all political parties to put poverty and homelessness on the campaign agenda.

Poverty and homelessness can affect a person’s health. The average life expectancy of a homeless person in Canada is 39 years. In addition, ending homelessness could save the Canadian economy $7 billion dollars, which includes not only the cost of emergency shelters, but social services, health care and corrections.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman has said:

It will take our entire community working together, including government, private sector and non-profit organizations to help end homelessness.

Winnipeg’s goal this year is to raise $200,000 to create employment opportunities for the city’s homeless and spur dialogue around the issue. The Canadian Medical Association has said that “the biggest barrier to good health is poverty.”

Many people believe that Canada can do a better job dealing with issues such as poverty, homelessness and food security. Past president of the CMA Anna Reid said:

There is no one sector responsible for making this happen. It has to be a joint effort, involving health care providers, governments, patients and Canadians from all backgrounds.

Canada is a wealthy country with the capacity to invest in the well-being its citizens and solve poverty. It has had dramatic success in reducing poverty among seniors over the past few decades. Everyone benefits from a Canada without poverty and homelessness.

Several of the federal candidates will be participating in this year’s Winnipeg CEO Sleepout, so it is possible that poverty and homelessness will start receiving more attention in the federal election. So far, however, these issues have been largely ignored during the campaign. Advocates will be watching party leaders closely to see if they have a social policy vision and platform.

Canadian disability/anti-poverty advocate Harry Wolbert says:

Ending homelessness isn’t rocket science! Medicine Hat, Alberta has become the first Canadian city to eliminate homelessness using the ‘Housing First’ approach. Nothing is preventing Winnipeg and other Canadian cities from doing the same.

We need, once and for all, to break the cycle of poverty in Canada and to finally lift its devastating burden. We owe it to the millions of Canadians who struggle day in day out with poverty. But we also owe it to Canada as a whole. The time for action is now!