Defining and measuring poverty: implications for the health of Canadians

This paper examines the implications that the conceptualization and measure ment of poverty have for policies that aim to improve the health of Canadia ns. in recent years, poverty has been identified as an issue of policy impo rtance within the health sector in Canada. Policy makers are recognizing th at efforts to improve the health of Canadians are related to the developmen t and implementation of policies that decrease the proportion of people who live in poverty. At the same time, the Statistics Canada Low-income Cut-Of fs (LICOs), which are the most commonly used tool for measuring poverty in Canada, are being called into question. One of the most frequently cited cr iticisms of the LICOs is that they are too high, and as such do not measure poverty. Critics who argue that the LICOs are too high disagree with the r elative conceptualization of poverty which underlies the LICOs. In this pap er, we discuss the LICOs, their underlying assumption that poverty is relat ive in nature, and the criticism that the LICOs are too high, in addition, we discuss the Sarlo/Fraser Institute poverty lines, which are based on the assumption that poverty is absolute in nature. The manner in which poverty is conceptualized and measured has implications for the types, characteris tics and ultimately the success of policies that are developed to reduce po verty and its effect on health. We argue that the success of efforts to enh ance the health of Canadians with a reduction in poverty depends on a commi tment by policy makers to a relative conceptualization and measurement of p overty. We further contend that policy makers in the health sector cannot i ndependently reduce poverty and its detrimental effects on health. The comp lex nature of poverty indicates the need for policy makers in the health se ctor to work collaboratively with their counterparts from a broad range of government and non-government sectors to develop an innovative network of s ocial assistance, economic and employment policies that effectively reduce the proportion of Canadians who experience material and social deprivation.