Government Grant Programs Based on Metrics of Minority Issues

"[Some 58 percent of 1.5 million people living in poverty are white; what StatsCan refers to as] not a visible minority nor Indigenous."

"In other words, the overwhelming majority of the Canadian poor are 'white', and thus cannot receive race-based allocations from governments if unchangeable characteristics such as skin colour or ethnicity are accounted for in policy."

"Put another way, this funding would be inaccessible to 64 percent of those who are low-income, and of those who do qualify for the funding based on race, only 11.9 percent are low-income. This is not a sensible way to design an anti-poverty program."

Aristotle foundation: Poverty and Race in Canada: Facts about Race, discrimination, and the Poor 

"Anti-Black racism is manifested in the legacy of the current social, economic and political marginalization of African Canadians in society such as the lack of opportunities, lower socio-economic status, higher unemployment, significant poverty rates and over-representation in the criminal justice system."

Federal document 

"Systemic racism is not the cause of poverty in Canada."

"While some visible minority groups experience poverty in numbers disproportionate to the general population, it is also true that some visible minority groups are less likely to live in poverty, such as Canadians of Filipino, Southern Asian, and Latin American ancestry."

Study lead author and financial analyst Matthew Lau

Both the article and the report misrepresent the data as it looks at number living in poverty rather than the percentage of each group who are in poverty. For example, stating that 58 percent of white people living in poverty is less than their 74 percent of the Canadian population. Multicultural Meanderings

The study found between 7.4 and 10.6 percent of Canadians live in relative poverty, at the low end defined by low after-tax income, 58 percent, or 1.5 million people who live in poverty are white. The measurement of poverty is based on the cost of living, concluding that 2.5 million people; 64.4 percent of the group living in poverty are in fact white. The fact seems to be that the link between race and poverty justifying race-based remedies ignores many needy people.

The recently-published paper points out that government anti-poverty programs that come with racial qualifiers can misdirect resources benefiting those who fail to qualify as poor, but do as members of racial minorities. Ontario's Racialized and Indigenous Support of Entrepreneurs grant program which uses a low-income-after-tax measure for which eligibility would apply not only to 1.4 million low-income earners but as well close to 10.5 minorities/Indigenous not low-income. At the same time excluding non-minority non-Indigenous earners.

Some minority groups in Canada, the study found, are as likely (in some cases less likely to be poor) compared to white Canadians. These minority groups encompass Canadians of Japanese, Korean, South Asian and Chinese ancestry with higher average weekly earnings than their white counterparts. Delinking poverty from race, suggests the study, should address "root issues" of poverty through strengthening or minimizing interference with the "success sequence": the formula of completing high school, full-time work and marriage prior to having children.

Markers, the study recommends that predicate a non-poverty life for most people in North America.

"Poverty is colour-blind, and thus poverty policy which excludes some Canadians and favours others based on colour or ethnicity omits a vast swath of the poor in Canada, in addition to being illiberal."

"The focus of anti-poverty policy in Canada should instead be focused on the individuals in need and on creating widespread opportunity for all."

Study co-author, David Hunt, research director, Aristotle Foundation