Question Period Note: RELEASE OF THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL ON POVERTY’S 2025 REPORT

We can do better: it is not a safety net if the holes are this big – the 2025 Report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty was tabled in Parliament on [insert date].

The Government of Canada thanks the National Advisory Council on Poverty for their sixth report. The Government remains committed to reducing poverty and meeting our poverty reduction targets.

The Government of Canada recognizes that many Canadians are concerned about higher costs of living and their impact on poverty. Our Government is committed to bringing down costs for Canadians by maintaining and expanding measures to make life more affordable.

Poverty reduction targets will be met by advancing new opportunities with a one economy agenda and investing to ensure Canadians have the skills for in demand jobs ensuring that the most vulnerable among us receive the supports they need. This includes bringing down costs for Canadians and making housing more affordable.

We know that more needs to be done. Drawing on the advice provided by the National Advisory Council on Poverty, the Government will continue to support and invest in Canadians.

The National Advisory Council on Poverty

On August 21, 2018, the Government of Canada released the report: Opportunity for All: Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy. A bold vision to build a Canada where every Canadian has a real and fair chance at success, a Canada without poverty.

The Poverty Reduction Strategy included concrete poverty reduction targets – a 20% reduction in poverty by 2020 and a 50% reduction in poverty by 2030; Canada’s Official Poverty Line to measure poverty and track progress towards the targets; and a National Advisory Council on Poverty.

The National Advisory Council on Poverty (Council) was established in September 2019. The mandate of the Council is to:

provide independent advice to the Minister responsible for poverty reduction;

to annually submit a report on the progress achieved toward reducing the level of poverty by 20% by 2020 and by 50% by 2030, relative to the 2015 level;

to continue a dialogue with Canadians on poverty; and

to undertake any activity specified by the Minister.

The members of the Council were chosen through an open, transparent, merit-based Governor in Council selection process. Members were selected to represent Canada’s diversity, taking into account linguistic and regional diversity, gender, and groups more vulnerable to poverty.

The Council currently consists of ten members, including persons with lived experience of poverty. They are also community leaders, academics, and practitioners who work in the field of poverty reduction. Two of the Council members are full-time, the Chairperson and the member with particular responsibilities for children’s issues; the other members are part-time.

Council’s Report and Recommendations

The National Advisory Council on Poverty presented its sixth report on the progress made towards reaching the Government’s poverty reduction targets.

The Council’s 2025 report takes into account poverty data from 2023. In 2023, according to Canada’s Official Poverty Line (the Market Basket Measure or MBM), the poverty rate was 10.2%, and about 4 million people living in Canada were in poverty. This represents a 30% reduction in the poverty rate compared to 2015 (14.5%) and about 1 million fewer people living in poverty in Canada compared to 2015.

The 2025 report summarizes the results of the Council’s examination of how people are being supported to meet their basic needs, achieve stability in their lives, and move out of poverty. The Council sought to better understand how people feel about the supports they currently receive, what other supports are needed, and what challenges they have faced when trying to access help.

To inform its sixth report, the Council met with individuals experiencing poverty and those who serve them in Campbellton and Fredericton (NB), Scarborough (ON) and Winnipeg (MB). Planned sessions in Québec and Lévis (QC) were conducted virtually due to a snowstorm. Council members also met with groups and people in their respective regions and held virtual discussions with key stakeholders, national organizations and advocacy groups. The 2025 annual report includes a comprehensive list of consulted organizations this year.

The engagement activities led in 2024-25 complemented those undertaken by the Council since its inception, which include over 50 virtual engagement sessions in the past 5 years and in-person visits across the country.

In this 2025 report, the Council is presenting the Government with seven recommendations to further reduce poverty around the following themes:

affordability and income security  

access to benefits and services   

housing

supporting communities and the non-profit sector   

life events, transitions and mental health

active labour force participation 

Key Poverty Statistics

Results from the 2023 Canadian Income Survey show that the overall poverty rate in Canada, as measured by Canada’s Official Poverty Line (the Market Basket Measure or MBM), was 10.2% in 2023, up from 9.9% in 2022.  Approximately 4 million persons lived in poverty in 2023. 

The moderate increase in the overall poverty rate between 2022 and 2023 reflects difficult economic conditions, including high inflation, lower wage growth, the full phase-out of emergency supports provided during the pandemic period as well as higher poverty thresholds for 2023, bringing the 2023 poverty rate close to the pre-pandemic level (10.3% in 2019). Approximately 200,000 more Canadians were living in poverty in 2023 compared to 2022.  

The 2023 poverty rate represents a 30% decrease in the overall poverty rate compared to 2015 (14.5%), the baseline year for Canada’s legislated poverty reduction targets. There were close to 1.1 million fewer persons living in poverty in 2023 compared to 2015.  

The poverty rate for children was 10.7% in 2023, up from 9.9% in 2022.

Approximately 67,000 more children were living in poverty in 2023 compared to 2022.   

The 2023 poverty rate for children represents a 34% decrease in poverty compared to 2015 (16.3%). There were approximately 313,000 fewer children living in poverty in 2023 than in 2015. The number of children living in poverty in 2015 was estimated at 1.12 million.  

The poverty rate for seniors was 5.0% in 2023, compared to 6.0% in 2022.   

There were approximately 57,000 less seniors living in poverty in 2023 compared to 2022.  

The 2023 poverty rate for seniors represents a 30% decrease in poverty compared to 2015 (7.1%). There were approximately 21,000 fewer seniors living in poverty in 2023 than in 2015. The number of seniors living in poverty in 2015 was estimated at 394,000.  

The poverty rate among Indigenous people living off-reserve and aged 15 and older was 17.4% in 2023, slightly down from 17.5% in 2022.   

The poverty rate among First Nations people living off-reserve was 21.0% in 2023, down from 22.1% in 2022.   

Among Métis, the poverty rate was 12.8%, up from 11.9% in 2022.  

Separate estimates for the Inuit population could not be published because of small sample sizes. 

The 2023 poverty rates for key vulnerable groups were as follows: 

Recent immigrants aged 15 and older:  15.3% in 2023 compared with 14.0% in 2022. 

Persons with a disability aged 15 and over:  12.0% in 2023 compared with 12.3% in 2022. 

Persons in lone-parent families:  24.8% in 2023 compared with 22.6% in 2022. 

Persons not in an economic family: 25.7% in 2023 compared with 26.0% in 2022. 

Persons designated as visible minorities:  14.0% in 2023, compared with 13.0% in 2022.

The 2023 poverty rate for different groups designated as visible minorities were as follows:  

Persons identifying as South Asian:  14.0% 

Persons identifying as Chinese:  16.4% 

Persons identifying as Black:  15.5% 

Persons identifying as Filipino: 5.4% 

Persons identifying as Arab:  15.7% 

Persons identifying as Latin American:  13.6% 

Persons identifying as Southeast Asian:  9.2% 

Other visible minority:  17.8% 

Not a visible minority:  8.5% 

We can do better: it is not a safety net if the holes are this big – the 2025 Report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty reports on the progress made toward the Government’s poverty reduction targets and contains recommendations on ways to further reduce poverty.

The report indicates that with the rising cost of living and income levels that fail to keep pace, more people are seeking supports, and many for the first time. It also states that despite the Government of Canada’s significant investments in social protection programs and the broader social safety net, some individuals are still not receiving the benefits, supports and services they need to survive. 

The Council’s 2025 report takes into account poverty data from 2023. While poverty rates have increased for the third consecutive year in 2023, the report notes that in 2023, the poverty rate was at 10.2%, representing a 30% reduction in the overall poverty rate compared to 2015 (14.5%). This means that about 1 million fewer people live in poverty in Canada in 2023 relative to 2015.

In this report, the Council makes a call on the Government to take steps across several themes including: affordability and income security; access to benefits and services; investments in housing; supporting communities and the non-profit sector; life events, transitions and mental health; and active labour force participation.