​Facing realities of poverty: Bruce-Grey residents feeling impact of growing national crisis

Oct. 17 marked the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, a time to reflect on the growing inequalities across Canada and the urgent need for local and national action. Here, in Bruce and Grey counties, those challenges are felt every day by families and individuals striving to make ends meet.

That’s the word from the Bruce-Grey Poverty Task Force.

Poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, and inequality are rising across Canada. As national indicators reveal worsening trends, local agencies and community leaders are calling for urgent, co-ordinated action to ensure everyone in the region can live with dignity and stability.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty has increased sharply across every province and demographic group. Nationally, nearly 1.4-million children - one-in-five - now live in poverty, with even higher rates among single-parent families, Indigenous and racialized communities, immigrants, and youth in care.

Meanwhile, more than 1.5-million Canadians with disabilities are living in poverty, facing systemic barriers and inadequate supports.

“Poverty is not abstract — it’s something we see and respond to daily here in Bruce and Grey,” said Jill Umbach, co-ordinator of the Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force. “We’re witnessing more families struggling to put food on the table, more people living without stable housing, and greater pressure on the local services trying to support them.”

RISING INEQUALITY, RISING COSTS

Across Canada and in this region, one-in-four experienced food insecurity in 2024. The number of people experiencing homelessness has nearly doubled since 2018, and the gap between the richest and poorest Canadians has reached record highs.

Locally, food banks, emergency shelters, and housing programs are seeing record demand. Workers in low-wage and precarious jobs — many of whom are women — are finding that even full-time employment doesn’t guarantee stability or dignity.

The living wage for Bruce-Grey is $23.05/hour, the second highest in Ontario after the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and yet this region has some of the lowest wages in the province. In Bruce-Grey, the median after-tax income for men was $42,000, while women earned $32,000. This is a pay disparity with men making 31.3-per-cent more, on average, than women.

“We are seeing more people working full-time and still not able to make ends meet,” said Francesca Dobbyn, executive director of the United Way of Bruce Grey. “Rising costs for rent, food, and utilities are pushing many residents to the brink. We need to invest in solutions that address not just emergency needs, but the root causes of poverty — from affordable housing to income security.”

A CALL FOR RENEWED COMMITMENT

Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy set a target to cut poverty in half by 2030, but the National Advisory Council on Poverty has warned that this goal will not be met without immediate action. Local advocates say the need for co-ordinated, systems-level change has never been greater.

“We need renewed leadership and investment from all levels of government,” said Umbach, “to ensure basic human rights: adequate food, housing, income, and care.”

“Many of the challenges we’re seeing across Bruce-Grey are deeply connected to poverty,” said Alexis Cook, co-ordinator of the Grey-Bruce Community Safety and Well-being Plan. “When people’s basic needs aren’t met, their ability to stay healthy, safe, and connected to their community, is compromised. Reducing poverty is essential to building stronger, safer, and more resilient communities.”

WHAT’S NEEDED

Local organizations are urging governments to recommit to poverty reduction by:
 

• Strengthening income supports, such as the Canada Child Benefit and the Canada Workers Benefit.
• Raising the Canada Disability Benefit so it lifts recipients above the poverty line.
• Investing in deeply-affordable supportive housing and expanding eviction-prevention programs.
• Ensuring universal, affordable child care so that all families can participate in the workforce.
• Engaging communities directly in poverty-reduction planning, using localized data and lived experience.

These actions are not only moral imperatives but also smart economic policy. Lower poverty rates are linked to improved health, stronger educational outcomes, reduced crime, and a more productive workforce — benefits that ripple across entire communities.

The Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force is a community-based coalition working collaboratively to reduce poverty and improve well-being across Grey and Bruce counties. By bringing together social services, local governments, health providers, and residents with lived experience, the task force advocates for systemic change and equitable opportunities for all.

As an Action Table of the Grey Bruce Community Safety and Well-Being Plan the task force supports income solutions to food insecurity through access to free tax filing services, financial literacy programs and access to dental care; above standard housing through the RentSafe Owen Sound Collaborative, Home Takeover Project and Housing Community of Practice; and health equity tools to improve access to health care.