Poverty is an issue which society faces each day. It is a constant struggle that cannot be ignored. Defeating poverty would take great efforts and contributions from all. Canada and the third world are examples of countries which are experiencing poverty, yet each differ in different ways. Once seeing the multitudes of condominiums, expensive restaurants, and streets jammed with cars, one would never see Canada as a place suffering from hunger, lack of food or clothing. Yet poverty exists. Poverty in Canada cannot be compared to that of a 3rd world country, since many of the poor have access to transportation and television. What people lack is ability to see the inadequate nutrition overcrowded housing and chronic unemployment. A visitor to Canada from Africa or Asia, if told if told that there is a widespread poverty in this country, might find the statement hard to credit.(Schlesinger 89) In most places, the poor are thought to be isolated, away from shopping zones as well as residential areas. They are seen as a crowded cluster, living in shantytowns drinking a bottle of whisky, uselessly lying there in search for a job, or some method of employment. This is just one of the stereotypes given to the poor person, we must first define poverty. Individuals and families whose financial resources and/or other resources (including educational and occupational skills, the condition of the environment at home and at work, and material possessions) fall seriously below those commanded by the average person or family in society, are in poverty. (Schlesinger 105) The poverty line, is a method used by the government to determine the number of poor people living in a certain area. It is based on an individuals income. Anyone below the annual level of income is classified as being poor. Who Are Our Poor? The Special Senate Committee on Poverty, using a poverty line, calculated that approximately five million Canadians live in poverty (NCW 10) St...
