Nova Scotia gets failing grade in poverty reduction, report says

Nova Scotia is failing people who are living in poverty, according to a new report from Food Banks Canada.

The report gives a letter grade in 13 indicators of poverty for each Canadian province, plus an overall letter grade.

Nova Scotia received the lowest possible overall grade, F, and it was the only province to score so low. 

The results are no surprise to Cathy Evans, 69, a resident of the province's largest public housing complex, in Halifax, where she's lived for almost 30 years.

"It's hard living here. It's really hard to try to get enough food to eat and the whole bit," she said.

Evans lives down the road from a food bank, and yet she doesn't use it, figuring others need it more. Instead she said she's been cutting back, having fewer family dinners and eating less fresh fruit and meat.

"It really is a result of a lack of action, a stagnation around any sort of policy advancements to address poverty, to address food insecurity," said Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley.

"When you have a failing grade, you can take some measurable action and see that grade come up. So my message [to Nova Scotia] would be there's a lot of room for improvement."

The report notes that Nova Scotia last wrote a poverty reduction strategy in 2009 and has not updated it since. 

Beardsley said the report is a call to action for the federal, provincial and territorial governments to step up and meet the needs of its most vulnerable citizens.

Poverty rates dropped across Canada between the last two census years. Between 2015 and 2020, the national poverty rate went down 6.4 per cent, while the rate in Nova Scotia went down 7.8 per cent. But Beardsley said that doesn't paint an accurate picture of what's happening now.

'We need action now'

She said food bank visits have recently "skyrocketed," which is a canary in the coal mine.

"We see people at the door of a food bank before they show up in federal statistics," Beardsley said.

"We need action now so that people aren't having to go to a food bank to make ends meet."

Food Banks Canada, which is a national non-profit affiliated with Feed Nova Scotia, based its report on data collected from a national survey, coupled with Statistics Canada data on poverty rates.

According to the report, more than half of Nova Scotians feel worse off compared to last year and almost a quarter are experiencing food insecurity. 

The report authors call out the Nova Scotia government for "unclear and insufficient" efforts to help people who are homeless and increase the supply of affordable housing.

This year's provincial budget, they said, falls short, with no increase to income assistance rates.

The Nova Scotia Department of Community Services declined an interview with CBC for this story and did not provide a reason. There are currently two cabinet ministers working on that portfolio.

Instead, a spokesperson emailed a statement that said, in part, the cost of living is a challenge for many, and there is more for the province to do.

"Information from organizations like Food Banks Canada is critical to enhancing our understanding of the challenges that people are facing," said Christina Deveau.

She listed a suite of programs the government has funded over the past two years for low-income Nova Scotians, including additional rent supplements, grants for seniors and home heating assistance.

Some gains

The authors of the Food Banks Canada report also noted that Nova Scotia has made some recent gains, including increasing the minimum wage, extending the rent cap and increasing the Nova Scotia Child Benefit.

But overall, the province "failed to take substantive steps this year to meaningfully address poverty,"  the report said.

Recommendations

Food Banks Canada concluded with seven policy recommendations for the province:

1. Introduce a new poverty reduction strategy, focusing in particular on poverty among seniors.
2. Improve community-based health care for seniors.
3. Remove co-payments for provincial pharmacare programs.
4. Introduce tax indexation, indexing income brackets to inflation.
5. Increase and amend the poverty reduction strategy.
6. Reduce the "claw-backs" of the Nova Scotia affordable living tax credit.
7. Expand broadband infrastructure.

Food Banks Canada says N.S. is failing people in poverty

1 year ago

Duration 3:40

The report from Food Banks Canada gives each province a letter grade and Nova Scotia got an F. No other provinces scored so low. The failing grade was no surprise to the people at Feed Nova Scotia. Abby Crosby with Feed Nova Scotia says it's unacceptable.