By Scott Roblin

Poverty rates improving nationally, concerns remain for Medicine Hat Food Bank

Feb 27, 2019 | 4:58 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Poverty levels across Canada are on the decline according to new numbers released by Stats Canada, however that might not necessarily be the case in Medicine Hat.

On Tuesday, the federal government announced they had reached their target of a 20 percent reduction in the overall national poverty rate three years ahead of schedule.

Using numbers from between 2015 and 2017, the survey results showed a reduction of approximately 825,000 under the poverty line.

That’s not entirely what the Medicine Hat and District Food Bank is seeing however, as their most recent stats show that their clientele is more or less holding steady.

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Over the last year, 24 families have stopped use of the food bank’s services, though 20 new families have since accessed their Food First Culinary program which often serves as an introduction to food bank services.

Executive director Celina Symmonds said she believes the national numbers focus on the financials of poverty, but ignore the fact that many of people below the poverty line still need to access supports in the community.

“People might have more money in their pockets, that doesn’t correlate necessarily with use of services and with needs of services,” said Symmonds. “So, I do think some of the numbers are just talking about the hard cash dollars, as opposed to the need for services and the need for community services.”

Around 3.4 million Canadians lived below the poverty line in 2017, which was changed by the federal government last year to consider someone below the poverty line as when a person is unable to pay for goods and services in their community like food, shelter, and clothing.

Symmonds added people either under or just above the poverty line have to deal with rising costs, even as aspects like minimum wage rise themselves.

“We know the cost of food has gone up, we know that for sure,” said Symmonds. “So, we can artificially raise numbers in regards to income. But, it doesn’t change that the rates of cost go up as well and the need for services go up.”

The newest data also shows provincial childhood poverty levels are on the decline, with Alberta’s rate being halved from 10 percent in 2015 to five percent in 2017.

That’s the lowest rate of childhood poverty in Canada, with the provincial and federal governments citing the Canada and Alberta Child Benefit programs as key contributors.

But in Medicine Hat, Symmonds said they’re actually seeing an increase in the need for childhood programming.

Even with the introduction of the provincial nutrition program in schools, she said they’re seeing more demand than ever to provide brown bag lunches to the community.

“We are still feeding 500 to 700 children a day and it stayed pretty consistent, even though five of the schools we’re no longer feeding,” said Symmonds. “So, the numbers from our perspective of childhood poverty and of kids needing lunches in schools have actually increased.”

According to the food bank, just under 500 local families were assisted between January 2018 and January 2019.

THRIVE Medicine Hat, a community conglomerate aimed at poverty reduction, has aimed to eradicate all poverty in the city by the year 2030.