Attempts Being Made to Reduce Poverty in Saskatchewan

The Advisory Group on Poverty Reduction has launched its online public consultation in search of strategies to enhance the lives of those who are unable to meet their basic needs.

The survey calls on Saskatchewan citizens, communities, organizations and businesses to share ideas on how to reduce poverty in the province. The group is comprised of six members of the public and five members of government, with the expectation of the group to provide its recommendations to the government that will inform the development of a poverty reduction strategy this June.

Captain Michael Ramsay of the Salvation Army says the effects of poverty in the southwest certainly are there.

"Even though we've been able to help out many, many people in poverty and help people actually move beyond their circumstance by providing them tools and resources in need, that there have still been people who are falling below the line of being able to make it themselves," he explained. "What's really quite concerning about poverty in general in that regard is that we find a lot of people in and around the community here of Swift Current and the southwest who have never found themselves struggling to make ends meet with poverty before who are now finding themselves for the first time needing to come to receive assistance from a food bank or something of that nature."

The Salvation Army works with 50 or more families a month in the southwest, with an increase during the winter months.

"A lot of the poverty effects in our community here that tend to actually compound, because you've got one family that is in crisis and then they naturally then need to go stay with someone in the winter time and they usually wind up staying with a close friend or family member who is near the poverty line themselves. What often does is pull two families down near the point of crisis rather than just one family," he added.

Ramsay says Swift Current has always stepped up to the plate to help those in need, adding that there are always opportunities for people to get involved in the cause if they reach out.

In addition to the online survey, the Advisory Group is also holding a one-on-one meetings with key stakeholders across the province, with a roundtable discussion to follow the end of the month in Saskatoon.

The Advisory Group's online survey is available on the Government of Saskatchewan's website.