Poverty and Anti-Black Racism:

What Poverty Rates Tell Us (And Don’t Tell Us) About Blackness in Canada

Poverty rates are revealing. Every five years, Canada conducts a Census that provides us with a snapshot of the population. Income and poverty are two of the important snippets of information reported by the Census that offer a glimpse of how people are doing.

Of course, it is our desire as a society that nobody should be living in poverty. Canada has committed to working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the first one of which is “Zero Poverty”. Canada’s recently adopted national poverty strategy affirms this commitment to achieving that first and most important goal.

Yet many people continue to struggle daily in the reality of poverty . Knowing who lives in poverty is important for understanding how to achieve our goal of ending it. The fact that certain groups of people are more likely to experience low-income and consequent poverty sheds light on what causes poverty and what to do about it.

Across Canada, Black Canadians are disproportionately represented among the population that lives with low-income. According to the 2021 Census, 12.4% of Black Canadians were living in poor households, compared to just 8.1% of the total population. In Alberta, the poverty rate among Black Canadians was even higher, at 14.4%. This means that there are over 25,000 Black Canadians living in poverty in Alberta, and almost 200,000 across Canada.

What story does this tell us about poverty and particularly about the experience of being Black in Canada? The Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her powerful Ted Talk “The Danger of a Single Story” warns us about narrowing the complex reality of a person’s or peoples’ experience to a simple, single narrative. For too long the connection between “Black” and “poor” has provided such as simple, single narrative.

While not wanting to diminish the inequities and injustice that elevated rates of Black poverty reveal, it is also important to recognize that the vast majority of Black Canadians across Canada and in Alberta do not live in poverty. In fact, an inverted reading of the most recent poverty data tells us that there are over 150,000 Black Canadians in Alberta and 1.3 million across the country who are not living with low-income and poor.

Focusing solely on poverty rates not only ignores this alternate reality, it can dangerously feed stereotypes about people and reinforce harmful single stories. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie notes that the problem with stereotypes is not that they’re untrue, it’s that they’re only partially true. The predominant narrative of “Black poverty” is the partially true but incomplete picture she cautions us against.

Yes, poverty is a critical issue among Black and other racialized Canadians. But it is also true that there is a thriving Black culture and presence in this country that is rich, vibrant and growing. To focus strictly on Black poverty rates ignores the powerful contributions of Black community leaders, Black-led businesses and organizations, Black educators, scholars, artists, volunteers and simply neighbours.

Yet there is something more instructive to consider if we reflect a bit deeper on the intersection of poverty and race. Is poverty merely a lack of money? The official definition of poverty from the Government of Canada is that poverty is “the condition of a person who is deprived of the resources, means, choices and power necessary to acquire and maintain a basic level of living standards and to facilitate integration and participation in society”. According to this definition, poverty is not merely about a lack of money, but also involves a lack of power and choice, and disconnection from the broader community .

The Canadian Poverty Institute similarly asserts that poverty is about more than just income. Rather, it is a multidimensional condition with material, social and spiritual dimensions. Material poverty exists where people lack the income and assets needed to thrive. Social poverty exists where people are isolated, lacking the social networks and connections necessary for resilience and inclusion in community life. Spiritual poverty exists where people lack meaning and purpose in life and their dignity is compromised. We believe that these aspects of poverty are inter-linked and cannot be addressed independent of each other.

When viewed through this lens, a consideration of poverty among Black Canadians must consider more than just income. Lack of power and access to opportunities are just as much an aspect of poverty as lack of income. Persistent racism, discrimination and stereotypes that result in elevated rates of income poverty for some, create conditions of social and spiritual poverty for a much broader swath of the racialized population.

Racism is an affront to the inherent dignity of the human person. As such, it is a profound source of spiritual poverty where a people are reduced to single story caricatures that discount their full complex humanity. Similarly, it is a source of deep social poverty by tearing apart the social fabric upon which we all depend. In the end, both the social and spiritual aspects of poverty diminish all of us by denying the full expression of a person’s creative gifts and potential to the detriment of the whole community.

February is Black History Month. This presents us with an opportunity to tell and celebrate the full story of Black Canada. It is a story of joy and resilience as much as it is one of struggle, oppression and powerlessness. Until we tell the full story and refuse to stop at that narrative of “Black poverty” we are bound to reproduce it.

- Derek Cook, Director, Canadian Poverty Institute

- Dr. Rita Yembilah, Senior Researcher, Canadian Poverty Institute