How Canada helps vulnerable citizens
Social workers for those in need.
We often write about how life in Canada: salaries, news, incidents, statistics. However, we cannot ignore the fact that a certain percentage of people live in very cramped conditions, some do not have enough to have a full meal, some live on the streets.
Although statistics are sometimes discouraging, there are many activists among Canadian citizens who volunteer to help those who are in such need.
Lack of literacy
Among the problems highlighted by experts are several that are particularly serious. Those are homelessness, illiteracy or lack of literacy, and poverty.
Melanie Valcin, the president and CEO of United for Literacy, an organization that aims to improve Canadians’ understanding of written language, believes “we have a big problem when it comes to literacy rates in this country.”
"We see how literacy changes everything, and how people who are struggling with literacy are really left behind. We have one Canadian out of five who is struggling, for an example, to read the prescription on a bottle of medicine, or is struggling to navigate the health system, or is struggling to vote," says Valcin.
What are the reasons for the lack of literacy skills? Not everyone graduates from high school and some do not receive a high school education. How can someone, who has trouble reading and writing, easily navigate in today's world? You even have to fill out forms to apply for a job.
Therefore, many experts find relation between the lack of literacy and poverty. Turning to the experience of formerly Third World countries, where health care, transportation, and social security are still poorly developed, a parallel can be drawn.
"Lack of literacy affects our productivity, it affects our prosperity, and, frankly, it affects our human rights in this country," the executive director of United for Literacy sums it up so disappointingly.
The homeless
According to StatCan, Statistics Canada, more than 235,000 people in Canada become homeless each year, and the number is growing, but it's hard to count it fully.
And yet, as the number of homeless people in Canada has also increased, the number of support workers has also increased, with a 60.7% increase from 2016 to 2021. Most of them, like the Sisters of Mercy, are women, 73.8%. There were 80% more male workers in 2021 than in 2016. The total number of men was 2 655 and the total number of women was 7 475.
"The homelessness support sector provides support to individuals experiencing homelessness, and to individuals accessing services that are targeted toward those at risk of facing housing crises. Homelessness support sector workers can be found in the community food and housing, and emergency and other relief services industry," the StatCan report said.
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Most of the help is in big cities, 70.8% of the workers, with most of them working in Ontario, about 4,000 workers, and British Columbia, 2 270 workers. Most of the recruits are young: today's 1 455 persons used to be 625 a couple of years ago.
The indigenous population is not left out either: at least one out of every ten people is an indigenous person.
The poor
It turns out that the most vulnerable layer of Canadians is single adult men. One in five single adults, around 22%, live below the poverty line.
They rely on short-term jobs, part-time work, none of which guarantees stability. As a result, nearly a million single adults of working age are stuck in poverty with an annual income of CAD 11 700. Statistically, the income of a household of one low-income adult male is CAD 25 252.
This group is not the only one in this difficult situation, but they make up 38% of all food insecure households. More than 60% of these men are people with disabilities.
