Province’s poverty reduction strategy doesn’t go far enough, critics say

It was a simple request: “Can I get therapy?”

Salena Starling asked her social worker the question. She’d been on the verge of homelessness before the age of four, her mother was an addict and she’d spent her youth in the child welfare system.

The now-21-year-old said she never heard back about her therapy query.

She’s since aged out of foster care — feeling “a little bit overwhelmed” — and says she’s lacked supports, such as learning how to manage money.

Starling, who is president and CEO of the social enterprise Community of Big Hearts, shared her story Tuesday as the provincial government released its new poverty reduction strategy.

The plan targets three demographics to provide supports and resources — youth leaving the child welfare system, seniors, and children under five.

“I’ve never felt so seen in a strategy,” Starling said.

Critics, however, said the 36-page report lacks substance, doesn’t include firm numbers in its poverty reduction goals and doesn’t include a list of initiatives.

“We do need targets and timelines,” said Kate Kehler, executive director of the Social Planning Council. “They’re the only things we can measure against.”

At least 150,000 Manitobans fell below the poverty line in 2022.

The strategy is void of a specific programs list because “what works today may not work tomorrow,” said Housing Minister Bernadette Smith.

“By setting actions annually, we can better align resources with current priorities.”

Government will measure its progress through eight indicators, including Canada’s market basket measure and rates of employment, child mortality and high school graduation, among other things.

It will publish progress through annual poverty reduction reports. Provincial budgets will include steps to further the strategy’s goals, the new document stated.

Three thousand Manitobans — including Indigenous organizations and people with lived experiences — were part of consultations, said Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine.

Consultations began two years ago. The final document is steeped in Indigenous teachings, Fontaine and Smith said.

Goals include supporting early childhood education, providing transitional supports to youth aging out of care, and cementing safe housing for seniors, among other things.

“We are disappointed that there’s not more substantial action in this report,” said Molly McCracken, chair of Make Poverty History Manitoba. “Given the rising income inequality and increases in poverty we’re seeing here in Manitoba, the strategy does not go far enough.”

Targeting three groups overlooks a swath of struggling Manitobans, McCracken said.

“We’re really worried that this myopic focus on balancing the budget by the end of this term is meaning that budget is being balanced on low-income people — that (government is) not investing in this, and they’re kicking it down the road,” said McCracken, who’s also the director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’s Manitoba chapter.

The strategy targets people during important life transitions, Fontaine said, adding the province has launched initiatives to help other demographics facing poverty.

Jodie Byram, the Progressive Conservatives’ families critic, said the strategy has “no plan and no substance,” citing the rising cost of groceries. Nationally, grocery prices rose 4.7 per cent year-over-year in November.

A “glaring hole” in the strategy is the lack of commitment to raising Manitoba’s minimum wage to a living wage, said Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour.

The new document doesn’t promise a change to employment and income assistance from its current universal model. Shifting from blanket EIA to a range dependent on a person’s situation is needed, said Marion Willis, founder of St. Boniface Street Links.

The NDP government highlighted several poverty-focused initiatives that have previously been launched in the new strategy, including a school nutrition program and free birth control.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com