10   Municipal Approaches to Poverty Reduction in British Columbia

A Comparison of New Westminster and Abbotsford

Robert Harding and Paul Jenkinson

How have British Columbia’s smaller cities responded to burgeoning poverty rates resulting from neoliberal policies implemented at both the federal and provincial levels? Given that municipalities in Canada have only limited powers of taxation, their ability to generate the revenue required to fund social programs is severely constrained. All the same, cities have tried to address high rates of local poverty by pursuing innovative initiatives in a number of sectors, including housing and child care, sometimes working in partnership with external agencies. By examining the strategies adopted by two small cities in British Columbia, we hope to shed light on both the possibilities and the limitations of municipal responses to poverty and related issues, notably homelessness and addiction.

Alleviating poverty depends in large measure on the availability of affordable housing and the adequacy of income security programs. In 1993, in the face of a growing deficit, the federal government withdrew financial support for new low-cost housing, reinstituting it only in 2001, with the introduction of the Affordable Housing Initiative, and also placed an annual limit of $2 billion on federal contributions to social housing (Irwin 2004, 7). In 1996, the government also ended its commitment to sharing the costs of social programs equally with the provinces when it replaced the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP), enacted in 1966, with the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST). Under CAP, provinces and territories were responsible for welfare assistance and social services, and it was up to them to determine who was eligible and what services would be provided, as well as to calculate how much income an individual or family needed in order to cover basic needs. The federal government would then assume half the cost of providing these payments and services, with no dollar limit placed on the federal contribution. Provinces were, however, responsible for the other half, and they had the power to set welfare income levels—which, by the start of the 1990s, were generally well below the poverty line (National Council of Welfare 1991, 1–2, 3).

As part of an effort to reduce the federal deficit, the CHST instituted a system of block transfer grants from the federal government to the provinces, calculated on a per capita basis, with the funds earmarked for health care, postsecondary education, and social assistance.1 This new funding formula effectively decreased federal support for the provincial delivery of programs and services in these areas. The result was that, beginning in 1996, total provincial spending per person on social assistance declined yet further, with “Ontario and Alberta leading the way on cuts to welfare rates and tightened eligibility rules” (Bashevkin 2002, 114). By this point, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which once financed low-cost public housing projects, no longer played a strong direct role in generating a supply of low-cost housing for low-income Canadians.2

In 2001, voters in British Columbia elected a Liberal Party government under the leadership of Gordon Campbell, who immediately began implementing a neoliberal agenda. The economic consequences of cuts to vital programs and services for the province’s most vulnerable populations have been particularly harsh. Even though British Columbia is a relatively wealthy province, from 2007 to 2010 it boasted the highest poverty rate of any of the country’s ten provinces (Citizens for Public Justice 2012, 5), and the situation has not significantly improved: in 2017, BC stood in second place, with a provincial poverty rate of 13.4 percent as defined by Statistics Canada’s low income measure (Klein, Ivanova, and Leyland 2017, 5). From 2002 through 2007, BC also ranked first among the provinces in its level of child poverty (First Call 2010, 4) and, after a brief improvement, was back in first place in 2011, when the rate stood at 18.6 percent, as compared to an average of 13.3 percent for the country as a whole (First Call 2013, 7).3

Unsurprisingly, food bank usage has also escalated dramatically. In March 2013, BC food banks assisted 94,002 people, an increase of 27.9 percent over a period of a decade; by 2016, the figure had risen further still, to 103,464 (Food Banks Canada 2013, 24; 2016, 20). To make matters worse, despite the high cost of living in BC, in November 2001 the provincial government froze the minimum hourly wage at $8.00, a freeze that lasted until May 2011. By that time, not only did BC have the lowest minimum wage in the country, but nearly a decade of inflation had dramatically eroded its spending power (see First Call 2010, 8–9). Even after the freeze was lifted and a series of small increases brought the minimum hourly wage up to $10.85 in early 2017, a single person working full time at this wage would earn an annual income of roughly $19,750, “or about $3,500 a year below the poverty line” based on the low income measure (Klein, Ivanova, and Leyland 2017, 6).4

British Columbia’s smaller cities have thus been forced to respond to provincial policies that emphasize economic growth at the expense of the province’s neediest citizens. In what follows, we examine the poverty-reduction strategies employed in two cities in BC’s Lower Mainland: Abbotsford, which lies in the Fraser Valley Regional District about 70 kilometres to the southeast of Vancouver, and New Westminster, located in the Greater Vancouver Regional District just 20 kilometres southeast of Vancouver. Despite their proximity, and although the two cities share a number of characteristics, such as rapidly growing populations and a high degree of ethnic diversity, they differ significantly in their approach to social issues, including poverty reduction. Perhaps more than anything, this divergence reflects the sociopolitical character of the two cities, which is itself rooted in their respective histories and community attitudes. In particular, New Westminster’s long-standing tradition of progressive politics has enabled that city to implement a living wage policy for civic employees—a proactive measure unprecedented in Canada at the time the policy was adopted. Yet, while both cities have experienced some success in their efforts to alleviate poverty, these efforts have been constrained by a neoliberal fiscal environment that leaves small cities with scant support from higher levels of government.

Close Together and Worlds Apart

New Westminster (originally named Queensborough) was founded in 1859 as the first capital of the newly established Colony of British Columbia, on a site selected by the colony’s first lieutenant-governor, Major-General Richard Clement Moody, of the Royal Engineers, who also designed the town plan. The city’s early economy was based on forestry and fishing, with numerous lumber mills and canneries located along the Fraser River, but during the twentieth century, the economic base gradually shifted to manufacturing. Today, New Westminster has a mixed economy, and although the city retains a large manufacturing base, it, like other municipalities in the region, has witnessed a decline in the industry overall (New Westminster 2008, 9–10). The largest employers in the city are currently the Royal Columbian Hospital, Douglas College, TransLink (Metro Vancouver’s public transit provider), and the local school board.5

Although New Westminster is transitioning from a working class to a middle class community, the city has a long tradition of grassroots social activism and progressive voting that persists to this day. The high value that residents place on social justice and political activism is reflected in voting patterns in elections at the federal and provincial levels. New Westminster residents have consistently elected candidates from progressive political parties, many of whom have had long records of working for community organizations and advocating for social justice.6 At city hall, a number of city councillors have worked on developing poverty-reduction strategies during their tenure with city council, in addition to engaging directly in such efforts as part of their professional life. Councillor Jaimie McEvoy, who has served on council since 2008 and has a long history of community involvement, was one of the catalysts for the city’s adoption of its Living Wage Policy (McManus 2010). A great deal of poverty-reduction work is also undertaken by voluntary organizations, such as the Olivet Baptist Church, which is home to the New Westminster Food Bank and the Hospitality Project (currently directed by McEvoy), which includes a drop-in centre for children and families. Another prominent nonprofit organization is the Fraserside Community Services Society, which is active in the area of housing initiatives.

Whereas New Westminster is partially defined by its long history of working-class activism, Abbotsford is known for its deep religious roots. In fact, it is regarded as part of the province’s “Bible Belt.” As in many municipalities, social issues were traditionally viewed as the responsibility primarily of churches and community organizations, rather than local government. Contributions from the faith community in Abbotsford have included the work of Walter Paetkau, founder of Abbotsford Community Services; the varied self-help and employment programs of the Mennonite Central Committee; the sizable supported-housing options created by Communitas Supportive Care Society; and the Cyrus Centre youth emergency housing program. Abbotsford’s strong commitment to charitable causes is also borne out by the fact that, as is evident from tax returns, city residents tend to contribute “more to charities, on average, than residents of any other metropolitan area in Canada” (Abbotsford 2006, 3). The same population that supports local responses to poverty and other social issues has, however, voted consistently for candidates at all levels of government who represent conservative parties that support cutting taxes and publicly funded social services.7

The Village of Abbotsford was founded in 1891, and the neighbouring districts of Sumas and Matsqui incorporated the following year. The District of Abbotsford was created in 1971, through the amalgamation of the village and the Sumas district, yet the City of Abbotsford, as presently defined, is relatively new: it came to exist only in 1995, when the Matsqui district merged with the District of Abbotsford.8 Although, historically, Abbotsford’s municipal government regarded its mandate as focused primarily on physical infrastructure, the city’s involvement in social issues has grown, especially in the wake of the provincial government’s Community Charter of 2003 (British Columbia 2003). The charter lays out the principles governing provincial-municipal relations, including the responsibilities and legislative powers of local governments, and Abbotsford has acknowledged that it needs to “plan for and respond to issues that impact our social environment” (Abbotsford 2006, v). At the same time, members of Abbotsford’s conservative political and religious populations, some of whom sit on city council, exert considerable influence on social planning in this growing city. The municipal government’s cautious and conservative nature often runs counter to the more progressive attitudes espoused by the city’s extensive network of helping agencies and coalitions such as the Fraser Valley Housing Network, as well as to some of the obligations imposed by the Community Charter. The result has been a vigorous, although sometimes conflicted, social planning experience.

Demographics: Abbotsford and New Westminster Compared

In terms of demographics, Abbotsford and New Westminster, while in some respects similar, exhibit a number of significant differences—differences that have implications for rates of poverty and, to a degree, for the success of measures aimed at alleviating poverty. Tables 10.1 and 10.2 present basic demographic information about the two cities that was collected during the 2016 and 2011 censuses, respectively.9 This information forms the basis for the observations that follow, which are intended to shed light on the context within which the two cities operate.

Table 10.1   2016 census data for Abbotsford and New Westminster

Source: “Census Profile,” Statistics Canada, 2016, for census subdivisions of Abbotsford, British Columbia, and New Westminster, British Columbia, https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E..

Table 10.2   2011 National Household Survey data for Abbotsford and New Westminster

Source: “NHS Profile,” Statistics Canada, 2011, for census subdivisions of Abbotsford, British Columbia, and New Westminster, British Columbia, https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E.

Ethnic and Linguistic Diversity

Close to 30 percent of Abbotsford residents belong to visible minority groups. This percentage includes a substantial South Asian community, which, in 2014, accounted for close to a quarter (22.7%) of the population (Abbotsford 2014a, 9). Indeed, the 2006 census revealed that, after metropolitan Toronto and Vancouver, Abbotsford had the highest proportion of visible minorities of any city in the country, the majority of whom (72%) were of South Asian origin (CBC News 2008). New Westminster also has a very heterogeneous population, with nearly 35 percent of its residents coming from visible minority groups. The diverse ethnic makeup of the two cities is reflected by their linguistic pluralism, with approximately one-third of residents of both cities having a mother tongue other than English or French. The immigrant populations of both cities have been steadily increasing, with immigrants adding 7.0 percent to the population of New Westminster between 2006 and 2011 and 4.1 percent to the population of Abbotsford during the same period.

In addition to immigrant groups, both cities are home to Indigenous communities. New Westminster has a fairly diverse population of Indigenous residents, but of particular importance is the Qayqayt First Nation (sometimes called the New Westminster Indian Band)—a nation presently without a land base whose government is headquartered in the city. Abbotsford occupies the traditional unceded territory of two Stó:lō peoples, the Sumas (Sema:th) First Nation, whose Upper Sumas 6 reserve is located in an area of Abbotsford known as Kilgard, and the Matsqui First Nation, whose Sahhacum reserve lies within the city’s metropolitan boundaries.

Rural Versus Urban

Despite its growing population, Abbotsford conforms reasonably well to the description of small cities as constituting a cultural “third space,” situated as they are “in the shadow of large cosmopolitan cities but still bound by rural history and traditions” (Garrett-Petts 2005, 2). Encompassing an area of about 375 square kilometres, with a population density of 376.5 people per square kilometre, Abbotsford lives up to its self-proclaimed identity as “the City in the Country.” In 2016, its population stood at 141,397, making it the province’s fifth-largest city. Population projections indicate that rapid urban growth will continue: the city’s population is currently projected to increase to 206,000 by 2036.10 Abbotsford is an agricultural community that boasts the highest gross farm receipts in Canada—an average of $20,441 per hectare, three times more than Ontario’s Niagara Regional District (Abbotsford 2011a, 1). In 2011, income from agriculture-related economic activity totalled about $1.8 billion annually, representing about 35 percent of the city’s gross domestic product (Abbotsford 2011a, vi).

In contrast to Abbotsford, whose residents are relatively thinly dispersed over several hundred square kilometres, New Westminster is a compact city embedded within a much larger urban conglomeration. With a population in 2016 of 70,996 living in an area of 15.6 square kilometres, the city has a population density of 4,543 residents per square kilometre—twelve times the density of Abbotsford and significantly greater than the density of the neighbouring cities of Burnaby (2,569) and Coquitlam (1,139).11 New Westminster’s concentrated population means that politicians, residents, and service providers interact on a regular basis and that decision makers are not removed from social problems and local conditions. It is not unusual to encounter political figures, including the mayor, at a local café or restaurant in one of the shopping hubs.

Transportation Issues

In New Westminster, more than one-quarter of the city’s labour force relies on public transport to get to work. In part, this is a testament to the world-class public transportation system to which residents, along with other inhabitants of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD), have access. TransLink, the corporation in charge of Metro Vancouver’s regional transportation system, provides New Westminster residents with a comprehensive network of buses. Two SkyTrain lines, encompassing five stations, provide residents with timely access to all services and commercial areas within the city, as well as efficient service to most other cities in the GVRD, such as Coquitlam, Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, Vancouver, and even North Vancouver (via a sea bus). By SkyTrain, New Westminster is about thirty minutes from downtown Vancouver, while Vancouver International Airport is approximately one hour away. However, for people of limited means, TransLink services are expensive. As of July 1, 2017, during peak hours, the return adult fare for destinations within New Westminster was $5.70, while the return fare for travel to Vancouver was $8.20, about 75 percent of an hour’s pay for someone earning minimum wage.

TransLink’s transportation projects are supported by the Greater Vancouver Regional Fund, one of three revenue streams generated from the Gas Tax Fund.12 Because Abbotsford is situated outside the GVRD, it does not benefit from this funding and must therefore choose whether to make the provision of public transport one of its financial priorities. In 2005, Abbotsford’s official community plan identified a need for improved transportation choice and efficiency (Abbotsford 2005, 16), as part of its goal to ensure “broad access to community services, social programs, places of worship, high quality health care facilities and public institutions, particularly for people who are economically or socially vulnerable” (3). An agenda for social planning developed by the city in 2006 likewise pointed to transit access as a problem for residents (Abbotsford 2006, 6), specifically people with disabilities (34) and children, youth, and seniors (69, 75). Yet, as of 2009, even though 62 percent of Abbotsford residents were employed within the city limits (Abbotsford 2009, 6), more than 90 percent of the workforce commuted by private car, truck, or van, with only 1.9 percent relying on public transportation to get to work.

An accessible and affordable transit system not only helps to reduce poverty, by enabling low-income residents to access employment and educational opportunities and vital social services, but also enhances the quality of life by facilitating access to activities such as sports, entertainment, and recreation. It is reasonable to assume that, among other things, Abbotsford’s lack of efficient and affordable public transportation discourages the pursuit of education and training. Even though Abbotsford is home to a comprehensive regional university, the University of the Fraser Valley, fewer than one in five residents between the ages of twenty-five and sixty-four has an undergraduate certificate, diploma, or degree, as opposed to nearly one in three residents of New Westminster. Unfortunately, Abbotsford’s limited public transportation system only exacerbates this situation by making it difficult and time-consuming for some of the city’s widely dispersed residents to reach the local university.

Income and Housing

Even though, at the time of the 2011 census, the median income in New Westminster ($31,391) was is approximately 18.8 percent higher than in Abbotsford ($26,428), a larger proportion of New Westminster residents were classified as low-income after taxes—nearly 17 percent, as opposed to 14 percent in Abbotsford. In part, this may be attributable to the significantly higher cost of home ownership and rental in New Westminster as compared to Abbotsford. According to the CMHC, shelter is affordable if its “costs account for less than 30 per cent of before-tax household income.”13 Despite earning higher incomes, over a third (34.5%) of New Westminster residents spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, in contrast to only 28 percent of Abbotsford residents. This situation is not new: both Abbotsford and New Westminster have been facing a shortage of affordable housing since well before the budget cuts of 2002.

Two Small Cities Tackle Poverty Reduction

In Canada (as elsewhere), one of the most visible consequences of neoliberal rule has, of course, been the growth of poverty. In British Columbia, the problem became especially acute in the wake of Gordon Campbell’s 2002 provincial budget, which aggravated an already alarming increase in poverty rates, as reflected in the escalating presence of homeless people on city streets. Over the course of the past fifteen years, both Abbotsford and New Westminster have endeavoured to mitigate the impact of poverty, through efforts to increase the supply of low-income housing, for example, and by instituting programs designed to address the needs of vulnerable populations, including those who struggle with mental health issues and/or drug addictions. In addition to pursuing such measures, however, New Westminster has adopted a proactive approach, one that attempts to prevent poverty from happening.

Heading Off Homelessness: New Westminster’s Living Wage

The City of New Westminster made its first serious effort to confront the need for affordable housing when it adopted its first housing strategy in 1996. The strategy featured thirty-two recommendations pertaining to rental housing, market housing, low-cost housing, and housing for seniors, as well as to growth management and secondary suites (New Westminster 1996, iv–xii). Over the following decade, the city made some progress towards implementing these recommendations (see CSC 2008, 1). Like many municipalities in BC, however, New Westminster witnessed a steady growth in the number of homeless in the wake of the 2002 budget, from 69 in 2002 to a high of 132 in 2011.

Starting in 2005, the city embarked on a number of initiatives in response to the rise in homelessness, which included the funding of a Homelessness Needs Assessment and Strategy and the creation of a Homelessness Coalition. The city also partnered with BC Housing to develop “28 shelter beds and 84 longer-term transitional and supported housing units,” most of which were occupied in 2009 and 2010.14 By 2011, two emergency shelter units also accommodated children (John Stark, pers. comm., 14 February 2011). In addition, in 2010, the city developed an Affordable Housing Strategy and also set up an Affordable Housing Reserve Fund, which received 30 percent of the revenue from density bonuses. These initiatives were followed by the preparation, in 2011, of a Tenant Displacement Policy, which provided assistance to tenants who were obliged to relocate as the result of redevelopment or rezoning, and, in 2013, of a Secured Market Rental Housing Policy, aimed at both retaining and expanding the supply of rental housing.15 Evidently, these multiple efforts paid off. In 2014, the City of New Westminster was able to report that it had reduced its total homeless population over three years, from 132 individuals in 2011 to 106 in 2014.16

Yet, despite these various efforts, over the three years that followed, the homeless population surged by 25 percent, with the count rising to 133 in 2017. While such an increase is clearly a source of concern, New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote noted that it was below the regional average of 30 percent for that period and that the city’s unsheltered homeless population had actually decreased by 12 percent since 2014 (McManus 2017b). The city clearly recognizes, however, that it has a long way to go in addressing the needs of the homeless and creating an adequate supply of affordable housing. Its Community Poverty Reduction Strategy, released in 2016, lists a total of seventy actions—ten of them pertaining to housing and shelter—to be implemented over a period of five years. Among other things, the city has resolved to prepare a new Homelessness Strategy, to proceed with the development of two previously designated sites for affordable housing and to explore additional sites, and to investigate the financial feasibility of a rent bank (New Westminster 2016, 18). In October 2017, the city reiterated its commitment to the provision of affordable housing in its community plan (see New Westminster 2017, 95–104).

Championed by NDP MLA Judy Darcy, the idea of a rent bank has already come to fruition, thanks in no small measure to donations of loan capital from local credit unions. The program is operated by the Lower Mainland Purpose Society, with the City of New Westminster providing $60,000 over three years to cover administrative costs and with additional funding from the Homelessness Coalition Society (McManus 2017a). As we write, it remains to be seen how successful New Westminster will be in meeting its other commitments—notably to creating housing for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and to improving access to affordable housing for low- to moderate-income households (New Westminster 2017, 96). It is nonetheless encouraging that the city is not merely reacting to the housing crisis but is also taking a proactive stance by targeting those at relatively immediate risk of homelessness as well as low-income people who might slip into that category in the future.

Perhaps the most celebrated example of the City of New Westminster’s proactive approach to dealing with poverty is its adoption of a Living Wage Policy. While living wage policies had already been implemented in a number of US jurisdictions—such as the state of Maryland and several major cities, including San Francisco, Chicago, and Albuquerque—New Westminster was the first Canadian jurisdiction to implement such a policy. Passed by the city on 26 April 2010 and effective at the start of 2011, New Westminster’s policy requires that the city, as well as contractors operating on city property, pay workers a living wage. A living wage policy is the quintessential proactive approach to poverty reduction. The philosophy behind the policy is simple: rather than attempt to lift underpaid workers out of poverty after the fact, the approach sets a minimum hourly wage—significantly higher than the regional minimum wage—that is designed to prevent people from falling below the poverty line.

In formulating the policy, the City of New Westminster adopted the definition of a living wage provided in Working for a Living Wage, a report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in September 2008:

The living wage is the hourly rate of pay that enables the wage earners living in a household to:

• Feed, clothe and provide shelter for their family;
• Promote healthy child development;
• Participate in activities that are an ordinary element of life in the community; and
• Avoid the chronic stress of living in poverty. (Richards et al. 2008, 17)

For the purposes of calculating the wage, the city defines a household as consisting of two parents, both employed full time, and two young children, aged four and seven (New Westminster 2015, 1). The city’s living wage level follows the rate set for Metro Vancouver by the Living Wage for Families Campaign, which, as of April 2015, was $20.68 per hour, inclusive of benefits (Ivanova and Klein 2015).

At the time the Living Wage Policy was implemented, predictions were that the impact of the policy would mainly be felt by contractors hired by the city, who had been paying some of their workers less than the living wage. While it was originally assumed that the living wage would also apply to other organizations that operate on city-owned property, in February 2011 the city announced that such organizations would be exempt from the policy (Granger 2011). Ironically, this issue emerged in the context of another progressive city initiative—providing a nonprofit daycare society with a free facility at the city-owned Queensborough Community Centre.17 Doing so would enable the daycare society to offer parents significantly lower rates, given that the expense of renting space is typically a major component of a daycare’s budget. However, as became apparent from the city’s announcement, child care workers at Queensborough KIDS (which opened in January 2014) would not be paid the living wage.

The city’s clarification of its policy sent an unfortunate message, especially in a city where, as of 2011, 16.9 percent of the population was in a low-income situation after taxes (see table 10.2). Child care workers, who are mostly women, are notoriously underpaid—precisely the type of worker who would benefit most from a living wage policy. Had the city chosen instead to operate the daycare itself, not only would this have ensured that child care workers at the facility were earning a living wage, but it might also have set a precedent that would encourage other daycare operators to follow suit. That said, in instituting its Living Wage Policy, New Westminster took a pioneering step the effects of which continue to be felt throughout the country.

Mixed Messages: Abbotsford’s Housing Initiatives

Although the City of Abbotsford has not implemented a living wage policy, the city has, like New Westminster, taken steps to increase the availability of affordable housing, which the city’s Community Planning Division identified in 2006 as one of nine priority areas (Abbotsford 2006, iv). Indeed, the scarcity of affordable housing has posed a major challenge for low-income residents for many years. The city was already facing a critical housing shortage in 2001, when 26 percent of the city’s residents were “living in core need” and 2,900 households were estimated to be at risk of homelessness (Abbotsford [2007?], 4). Again, the budget cuts of 2002 only compounded existing problems. In 2004, a one-day homeless count conducted in the Upper Fraser Valley found 226 homeless people in Abbotsford (37 of them youth), while the number of people living in “unaffordable accommodation” and therefore at risk of homelessness was likewise on the rise (Abbotsford 2006, 26).

Abbotsford’s Official Community Plan, developed in 2005, represented the city’s first major step towards addressing issues of equity, inclusion, and poverty, including the urgent need for affordable housing. Among other things, the plan committed the city to developing “a co-ordinated strategy for increasing housing options for the most vulnerable in the community,” which would include the provision of emergency shelters and transition housing (Abbotsford 2005, 33). The city hired a social planner (Abbotsford 2006, 23) and, in 2006, followed through on a recommendation made by its Community Planning Division by creating the Abbotsford Social Development Advisory Committee (ASDAC), which organized an Affordable Housing Working Group (Abbotsford [2007?], 1; see also Abbotsford 2006, 39–42). In the meanwhile, Compassion Park, a small camp for homeless people located in a wooded area adjacent to a subdivision, had come to the attention of local media (“Compassion Park” 2006). Abbotsford Mayor George Ferguson’s visited the camp in April 2006 and subsequently expressed a desire to ensure that “no municipality becomes a magnet for transient homeless people” (quoted in “Homeless People on Mayors’ Agenda” 2006). The mayor’s visit and comments ignited a firestorm of controversy that propelled the issue of homelessness and affordable housing onto the social planning agenda.

In April 2007, in a report to city council, Abbotsford’s Community Planning Division brought forward an Affordable Housing Action Plan (AHAP), which included a framework for expanding the city’s supply of affordable housing. The action plan outlined in the report consisted of three basic “strategic strands”: (1) protecting existing affordable housing stock; (2) encouraging the production of new affordable market housing; and (3) facilitating the production of new affordable nonmarket housing. The report also proposed that the city institute a density bonusing program to generate funds for housing initiatives.18 Since the mid-1990s, the city had been legalizing secondary suites, with 3,926 formerly illegal suites approved by September 2007.19 The city also moved to safeguard existing rental properties by implementing a policy that placed strict limitations on the conversion of rental accommodation into strata units when rental availability fell below 2 percent (Abbotsford 2008, 1).

In 2001, the province had ended its regulatory role with respect to supportive recovery homes, and, as a result, unlicensed facilities had proliferated. In 2007, the City of Abbotsford was chosen by the BC Ministry of Health to participate in a pilot registration program, which aimed to reintroduce “some level of accountability and regulation to the supportive recovery house industry.” The city subsequently developed a Supportive Recovery House Policy, approved by city council in May 2007, and amended sections of the zoning bylaw accordingly.20 In September 2008, the City of Abbotsford also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Province of British Columbia, which committed the city to creating one hundred units of social housing. In addition to promising financial support from the province, the agreement outlined procedures for identifying residents at risk of homelessness and selecting nonprofit organizations with which to partner.

Two projects were eventually funded through this arrangement. One of them, the Christine Lamb Residence, which is operated by the Women’s Resource Society of the Fraser Valley, provides forty-one units of supportive housing for women and women with children at risk homelessness and/or abuse. The other, the George Schmidt Centre, is a thirty-unit apartment building for men with mental health and/or addictions issues who are at risk of homelessness.21 The location initially proposed for the facility provoked considerable public hostility, however, and Abbotsford’s city council withdrew its support for the site (Baker 2014a). Finally, in 2011, a new location for the centre was found, and the city again partnered with a nonprofit organization, the Kinghaven Peardonville House Society, which agreed to donate land to the city and operate the facility.22

In the meanwhile, in 2009, the city embarked on a pilot project, Harmony Flex Housing, in which it partnered instead with a private developer. The project entailed the construction of a cluster of eleven townhouses, each with a two- or three-bedroom main unit and a self-contained secondary rental suite on the ground floor accessible to seniors or people with disabilities. The townhouses were initially sold at a price 26 percent below their assessed value and only to buyers who could demonstrate a need for affordable housing; if the buyer wished to resell, the new owner had meet to same criteria, and the sale price had to be 20 percent below the assessed value. The inclusion of the rental suite allowed the city to increase its stock of affordable rental housing, while also providing the purchaser with a source of income.23

In the fall of 2010, the city established two funds for affordable housing projects, the Affordable Housing Opportunities Reserve Fund and the Affordable Housing Capital Reserve Fund (Abbotsford 2010a, 2010b). The funds—created and sustained by revenue from a combination of sources, including general revenues, property taxes, strata conversion fees, density bonusing, income from the sale of city lands, and donations—have provided support to a number of projects, foremost among them the Extreme Weather Shelter Program and the Elizabeth Fry Firth Residence (a transitional housing facility for women and women with children), as well as to the Lynnhaven Society, which provides furnished rental accommodation for low-income seniors.24

In short, between 2005 and 2010, the City of Abbotsford pursued a variety of initiatives in the affordable housing sector. Several subsequent incidents have, however, severely undermined the city’s credibility on issues of homelessness. Early in 2009, ASDAC had encouraged the city to enter into a Homeless Encampment on Public Lands Closure Protocol with nonprofit organizations.25 Although the protocol—which was intended to ensure that the clean-up of homeless camps would be conducted in a respectful manner—was, in theory, adopted, the city neglected to abide by it.26 On 4 June 2013, in response to complaints from local residents about homeless people in the area, the city dumped chicken manure on a homeless encampment across the street from the headquarters of the Salvation Army. Although Abbotsford’s city manager claimed that the Salvation Army had “approved” the plan, representatives of the organization indicated otherwise. The action was widely denounced, prompting the mayor to issue a formal apology, and, with the help of a social advocacy lawyer from the Pivot Legal Society, several homeless people planned to file lawsuits concerning the destruction of personal property and violations of human rights (Archer 2013). Among those who condemned the action was the city’s own social development advisory committee, with one member of ASDAC calling it “a despicable act”—an act that “belongs in Fascist societies” (quoted in Mills 2013). When asked how such an incident could have occurred in the light of the city’s homeless camp closure protocol, Councillor (now Mayor) Henry Braun responded, “My understanding is that this protocol was ignored. I do not know if this was deliberate or if those involved were simply unaware of the protocol” (“Answers from Mayor and Council” 2013).27

Only days later, the director of another outreach agency, the 5 and 2 Ministries, reported to ASDAC that, according to residents of Compassion Park, police had destroyed several tents in the encampment and had sprayed several others with bear mace or pepper spray (Bitonti 2013). In the wake of these incidents, the Pivot Legal Society and the BC/Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors filed a lawsuit challenging three city bylaws. The case went to the BC Supreme Court, which, in October 2015, ruled unconstitutional those portions of city bylaws that “prohibit sleeping or being in a park overnight without permits or erecting a temporary shelter” and also denied the city’s request that a temporary injunction banning homeless encampments in Jubilee Park be made permanent.28 In 2016, the City of Abbotsford duly passed an amended bylaw that permitted homeless people to camp in all but three city parks from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 a.m. the following day (Abbotsford 2016, sec. 14[b]; see also Baker 2016).

Despite the publicity surrounding these incidents, less than a year later, in February 2014, Abbotsford’s mayor and city council voted against rezoning a site in a downtown residential area to make way for a twenty-bed supportive housing unit for homeless men.29 The project was the work of a local nonprofit organization, Abbotsford Community Services (ACS), which was planning to donate the land in question (valued at a quarter of a million dollars), while BC Housing had committed to providing a capital grant of $2.4 million, as well as annual funding to help cover operating costs. The project had been vigorously opposed by Abbotsford’s Downtown Business Association, with the support of the city’s Chamber of Commerce, on the grounds that the facility “would return the downtown core to its former derelict state by driving up crime and pushing merchants from the area” (Baker 2014b). Evidently, the association’s position was also backed by Mayor Bruce Banman, who cast the deciding vote at the meeting.

Although a follow-up motion, proposing that the city seek funding for a supportive housing facility to be built at a site formerly occupied by a hospital, passed by a vote of 4 to 2, the decision to quash the ACS project constituted a major missed opportunity to take immediate, concrete action to address the needs of homeless men, who represent 60 percent of Abbotsford’s homeless population (Fraser Valley Regional District and Mennonite Central Committee, British Columbia 2014, 9). It would be three years before Abbotsford would add to its housing stock for homeless people. On 31 March 2017, Hearthstone Place, a thirty-one unit long-term affordable housing residence operated by ACS, officially opened its doors in downtown Abbotsford to those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The facility received $5.1 million in capital funding from the provincial government, while the City of Abbotsford provided the land, worth nearly $600,000, and equity of approximately $350,000.30

Orientation to Harm Reduction

In recent years, much has been written about the harm reduction approach to high-risk behaviours, notably habitual drug use, which is designed to minimize the damaging consequences that may accompany those behaviours. While perhaps the most obvious risks pertain to health and personal safety, some of the potential consequences are economic. The high cost of illicit drugs, the transmission of disease, and the loss of a person’s employment, housing, and social support network can create considerable economic hardship for the drug user. At the same time, by contributing to increased rates of homelessness, incarceration, and hospitalization, as well as to a loss of economic productivity, drug addiction also represents a cost to society as a whole.

Drawing on models in use in numerous European jurisdictions, in 2001, the City of Vancouver became the first municipality in Canada to embrace harm reduction measures, as part of its Four Pillars approach to the city’s drug problems (see MacPherson 2001), and provincial health authorities have generally supported the philosophy (see, for example, BC Ministry of Health 2005). Yet the harm reduction approach has been slow to gain favour in Canada, not the least because of opposition at the federal level. The five-year National Anti-drug Strategy introduced in 2007 by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government essentially withdrew support for harm reduction initiatives, and further funding cuts followed in 2012, when the strategy was renewed, despite mounting evidence of the relative ineffectiveness of punitive approaches to drug addiction.31

While the City of New Westminster has not formally endorsed a harm reduction approach, neither has it taken a position against it. In fact, according to John Stark, the city offers a number of initiatives that fall within the continuum of harm reduction services. For example, its emergency, transitional, and supportive housing facilities are “minimum barrier” units, in which residents are not prohibited from using illegal drugs on the premises. Furthermore, the city has actively supported harm reduction initiatives offered by community organizations, notably the Lower Mainland Purpose Society, which is based on New Westminster. As part of its wide range of programs (which include the rent bank), the Purpose Society maintains a mobile health van and also offers drop-in services where clients can access a needle exchange and other harm reduction supplies.32

In contrast, until January 2014, harm reduction services were not permitted in Abbotsford. In 2005, under the leadership of the mayor, Mary Reeve, the city passed an anti–harm reduction bylaw that banned needle exchanges, supervised injection sites, methadone clinics, and mobile dispensing vans, with Reeve arguing that such services would attract both drugs users from elsewhere and dealers in search of clients. Reeve had the support of Randy White, then Abbotsford’s MP, but the bylaw ran counter to the policies adopted by the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) and by other cities belonging to the Lower Mainland Municipal Association (Toth 2010a). Predictably, the city’s prohibition of harm reduction measures had direct consequences for the health status of intravenous drug users.

On 19 May 2010, harm reduction advocates held a rally at City Hall. At the time, Abbotsford had the third highest rate of hepatitis C in British Columbia—a province whose hep C rate was already twice the national average (Toth 2010a). Shortly after this widely publicized display of support for harm reduction services, city planning officials, including its social planner, submitted a report to city council recommending that the city reconsider its current policy. The report noted that Abbotsford’s approach to harm reduction “is not congruent with FHA harm reduction practices and deflects FHA funding and programming away from Abbotsford that support harm reduction approaches to health care,” adding that, in view of the bylaw, “the FHA has not considered funding any expansion of harm reduction services into the Abbotsford area.”33 On 7 June 2010, the city council’s Executive Committee considered this report and decided that city staff should undertake a “technical review” of harm reduction, a task that was delegated to ASDAC.34

ASDAC proceeded to embark on such a review. In March 2013, after a lengthy process of information gathering and public forums, the city’s social planner submitted a report to the Executive Committee, and, in April, the committee directed ASDAC to prepare an amendment to the zoning bylaw.35 Then, in May, the Pivot Legal Society filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of three drug users, arguing that the bylaw banning harm reduction services “violates basic human rights” (CBC News 2013). Finally, on 13 January 2014, the city amended the ban on needle exchanges, methadone clinics, and supervised injection sites, paving the way for the Fraser Health Authority to begin implementing its proposed harm-reduction plan (CBC News 2014a).36

Underserved Populations

In New Westminster, a number of population groups fall between the cracks. For example, while a significant supply of nonmarket housing is available for traditionally targeted populations such as families, people with disabilities, and seniors, there is a dearth of such housing for single adults (John Stark, pers. comm., 11 May 2011). Yet single, unattached individuals are highly vulnerable to poverty—much more so than individuals who are part of family units.37 Also, as we have seen, New Westminster’s Living Wage Policy is not enough to protect people who work in child care and other low-paying jobs predominantly occupied by women. Other groups who may lack access to services include immigrants who speak neither English nor French and people whose literacy skills are very limited (Jaimie McEvoy, pers. comm., 10 May 2011). In addition, of all the communities within the GVRD, New Westminster has one of the highest percentages of seniors (those over the age of sixty-five) living alone—a group whose needs often go unmet (John Stark, pers. comm., 11 May 2011).

Although Abbotsford’s 2006 social planning agenda likewise identified “seniors’ issues” as one of its nine priority areas, two others were “children’s issues” and “youth issues” (Abbotsford 2006, iv–v). In response to these concerns, ASDAC created the Abbotsford Child and Youth Friendly Working Group, which subsequently produced Child and Youth Friendly Abbotsford: Community Strategy (Honey-Ray and Enns 2009). The city’s endorsement of this strategy, in November 2009, created a planning framework within which children’s needs were considered in all planning decisions. One significant outcome of the working group’s recommendations was the Abbotsford Youth Health Centre, founded through a partnership among ACS, the Abbotsford Division of Family Practice, Impact Youth and Family Substance Use Service, and the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development (Gross 2014, 4).

Yet, despite the attention the city has paid to the needs of youth, homelessness among young people is a source of serious concern. As of 2014, youth between the ages of fifteen and nineteen represented 7 percent of the city’s population, yet they constituted 12 percent of its total homeless population (Fraser Valley Regional District and Mennonite Central Committee, British Columbia 2014, 8).

Another key priority area identified in 2006 was “diversity and inclusion” (Abbotsford 2006, iv). Although, in its planning, Abbotsford has recognized the ethnic diversity of its population, a number of marginalized groups continue to lack a voice in the city’s social planning processes. Gustavo Gutiérrez (1983, 65) contends that no “great leap forward” can occur “until the marginalized and exploited have begun to become the artisans of their own liberation—until their voice makes itself heard directly, without mediations, without interpreters.” At least four populations seem generally to be denied the opportunity to participate in civic affairs: immigrant and migrant farm workers, who experience high rates of poverty, an issue that is not addressed in the city’s Agricultural Plan; high-risk populations, such as intravenous drug users, whose access to health services was for many years impeded by Abbotsford’s anti–harm reduction bylaw; people recently released from penal institutions, who lack adequate access to reintegrative housing; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) communities.

In 2006, the City of Abbotsford acknowledged that it had “work to do if it is to be a tolerant and accepting community of all community members” (Abbotsford 2006, 34). Just to take one example, tolerance is not always extended towards LGBTQ people in Abbotsford. In the fall of 2008, in response to complaints from parents, the Abbotsford School District decided to withdraw a provincially sponsored course, Social Justice 12, from the city’s secondary schools. Offered as an elective to Grade 12 students, the course, which included modules on sexual orientation and gender discrimination, had been instituted as a pilot program the previous year, in response to a legal challenge (CBC 2009).38 LGBTQ students responded by attempting to organize, via Facebook, a Pride parade but had to scuttle their plans in the face of online protests from “hundreds” of city residents (Rolfsen 2008). It was only five years later, in May 2013, that the first such parade took place in Abbotsford, with more than five hundred people participating (Huffington Post BC 2013).

On the ground, however, community organizations such as the Fraser Valley Youth Society, TransFamily Services BC, and the Positive Living Fraser Valley Society have been active in providing services to LGBTQ communities and promoting their inclusion in social programming. For example, in 2011, Abbotsford Community Services submitted a proposal to the federal government’s New Horizons for Seniors Program with the goal of setting up a support group for LGBTQ seniors. The result was Over the Rainbow, a peer-led group, formed in 2012, that met monthly to explore issues surrounding healthy aging for older members of the LGBTQ community.39 Unfortunately, though, the group failed to gain enough traction to survive.

The city’s commitment to LGBTQ equity remains somewhat equivocal. On 13 July 2015, a rainbow flag was raised outside city hall, in response to a request that the city fly the flag for a week to coincide with Fraser Valley Pride Celebration. City council had consented to the request at its 15 June meeting, but, at the same time, it directed staff to draw up a “flag policy.” The resulting report, submitted on 3 July, recommended that the city fly only the flag of the United Nations and the flags of other countries or of Abbotsford’s sister cities, in honour of visiting dignitaries. At its meeting on 13 July—the same day that the rainbow flag was raised—the council’s Executive Committee approved the new flag protocol, thereby ensuring that a first would be a last.40

Distinct Community Visions

Since the early 2000s, both New Westminster and Abbotsford have sought to incorporate poverty-related issues into their respective planning agendas. Yet, although separated by a mere twenty-five minutes on the TransCanada Highway, the two cities have developed quite different approaches to poverty reduction. New Westminster has tended to adopt a holistic perspective, endeavouring to integrate poverty reduction into various aspects of its planning, and has also recognized the need for proactive measures. In contrast, Abbotsford has been slow to embrace a comprehensive approach to poverty reduction. In 2005, the city signalled its intention to enter the social planning arena by making issues such as “quality of life,” “social well-being,” and “cultural diversity” a priority in its Official Community Plan (Abbotsford 2005, i). In the years that followed, however, its efforts to address such issues tended to be somewhat haphazard, often undertaken in reaction to competing interests, with the focus falling chiefly on the shortage of affordable housing, notably for seniors and low-income families.

In particular, despite some notable achievements in the area of housing, and despite the city’s recognition that “it is less expensive to address homelessness and housing issues through prevention than after the fact” (Abbotsford 2006, 25), Abbotsford has shown itself reluctant to take decisive action to reduce homelessness. Rather, the city initially adopted an antagonistic approach to its most vulnerable residents, using the full weight of the law to swiftly remove their encampments while simultaneously blocking housing initiatives that would reduce the need for such camps. Indeed, in reviewing this history, one senses a tension between representatives of Abbotsford’s conservative “Bible Belt” population and more progressive voices within the community—including the city’s own social development advisory committee, whose advice city council was prone to ignore. In 2013, the chair of ASDAC commented, “So many things we recommend disappear into a void. We don’t know where they go and we don’t know why they are ignored” (John Sutherland, quoted in Mills 2013).41

Between 2011 and 2014, Abbotsford’s homeless population increased by 29 percent, from 117 to 151, the largest increase of any community within the Fraser Valley Regional District (Fraser Valley Regional District and Mennonite Central Committee, British Columbia 2014, 5). In March of that year—only a month after putting an end to the ACS proposal for a low-barrier housing facility for homeless men—Abbotsford’s city council set up a Task Force on Homelessness, which was mandated to collaborate with community members to develop a coordinated plan of action. Perhaps unsurprisingly, news of the task force’s creation was greeted with a measure of skepticism. As Ward Draper, a pastor with 5 and 2 Ministries, commented, “To me, it’s just another committee. It doesn’t even have the main community service providers represented” (quoted in Sasagawa 2014).

The task force’s report, Homelessness in Abbotsford: Action Plan (Abbotsford 2014b), appeared seven months later, in October. The plan outlined five strategic directions:

1. 1. Facilitate a Housing First approach, rather than housing only
2. 2. Advocate for housing and wrap-around support
3. 3. Initiate a prevention program
4. 4. Create a culture of awareness, inclusiveness, and respect
5. 5. Foster collaboration between agencies, community, and government.

The plan stipulated a three-year time frame for implementation. Unfortunately, it appears that the initial skepticism was justified. By early 2017, Abbotsford’s homeless population stood at 271—a 79.5 percent increase over the 2014 figure of 151 (Fraser Valley Regional District and MCC Community Enterprises 2017, 4).

Like Abbotsford, in the wake of provincial budget cuts, the City of New Westminster witnessed a steady growth in the number of homeless, from 69 in 2002 to 132 in 2011. As noted earlier, between 2011 and 2014, the total number of homeless dropped by 19.7 percent, from 132 to 106. Moreover, better than two-thirds of that population—72 out of 106, or 68 percent—was sheltered, that is, living in homeless shelters, transition housing, or safe houses. Indeed, between 2008 and 2014, the city achieved a 52.8 percent drop in the number of unsheltered homeless, from a high of 72 in 2008 to 34 six years later (Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness 2014, 57). While New Westminster has thus made significant progress in addressing the needs of homeless people, the city’s director of Development Services warned in 2014 that further gains “could be jeopardized by funding reductions targeting people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless,” pointing to the city’s failure to renew contracts with the Lookout Emergency Aid Society and the Hospitality Project, which together offer outreach, advocacy, and referral services, as well as with the Senior Services Society, which provides temporary housing services for seniors.42

New Westminster’s crowning achievement has been the implementation of its Living Wage Policy. A number of organizations in BC, such as the Hospital Employee’s Union and the Metro Vancouver Living Wage for Families Campaign, have promoted the living wage as an effective way to reduce poverty among the working poor. While this policy applies only to employees of and contractors to the city and obviously does nothing to address the situation of people who lack paid employment, the city has set a good example for other employers in the city and for other municipalities. Indeed, the city’s bold action created a ripple effect. Within a year of New Westminster implementing its Living Wage Policy, the City of Esquimalt followed suit, and, in May 2011, the country’s largest credit union, Vancity, announced that it would implement a living wage for its workers (Paley 2011). Numerous other Canadian municipalities, among them Kamloops, Calgary, Saskatoon, and Kingston, are engaged in living wage discussions as well (Cooper and Johnstone 2013).

Living Wage Fraser Valley—a campaign organized by Vibrant Abbotsford, a community action group dedicated to poverty reduction—sets a living wage for the Fraser Valley, which local employers can voluntarily implement.43 In addition to Vancity, living wage employers in Abbotsford include the Mission Community Skills Centre, the Mount Lehman Credit Union, the Pacific Community Resources Society, and SARA for Women (Hopes 2016; “SARA for Women” 2017). They do not, however, include the City of Abbotsford. In June 2017, not long after Vancouver announced its adoption of a living wage policy, Abbotsford city councillor Ross Siemens indicated that, while the issue had been raised at council, the city was not prepared to make a “snap decision” about whether to pay city workers a living wage (quoted in Olsen 2017). While the trend towards combatting poverty through the implementation of living wage policies seems to be gathering momentum, the City of Abbotsford is in no danger of setting an example for others.

Dreaming a Better Future

In recent years, British Columbia has experienced high poverty rates, increasing homelessness, and a demand for basic foodstuffs so great that the province’s growing number of food banks can barely keep up. Small cities, such as Abbotsford and New Westminster, have had their resources stretched to the limit in attempting to respond to shortages of affordable housing and the need to provide shelter for the homeless, many of whom struggle with mental health issues and/or addictions, as well as numerous other issues associated with economic deprivation. While many of the services and programs that have emerged in response to these social problems have been well intentioned, they are often piecemeal, disjointed, limited in scope and uneven in application, and contingent on funding partnerships. Clearly, a more comprehensive approach is required, one that addresses the full range of basic human needs over the course of a lifetime, including income security, housing, food security, child care, transportation, education and training, and health care. Such an approach should also incorporate measures aimed at preventing poverty, in part by identifying at-risk individuals and families, many of whom belong to marginalized populations. Such a sweeping program would strike to the heart of the structural inequalities that underlie poverty in this fundamentally wealthy country, but without a shift in political will, it will remain a dream.

Small cities such as New Westminster and Abbotsford have shown a willingness to engage in social issues and have demonstrated resolve and creativity in funding and delivering programs and services, sometimes in partnership with community organizations as well as with federal and provincial agencies. These locally driven strategies are consistent with the Vibrant Communities initiative of the Tamarack Institute, an approach that puts poverty reduction on the agenda of the Canadian public and has the potential to bring about modest reductions in poverty rates.44 However, the Vibrant Communities initiative ultimately favours adapting to—rather than challenging—the vast structural inequalities in Canada society. In fact, as Dennis Raphael (2011, 419, 422) argues, Vibrant Communities has a tendency “to downplay the importance of influencing public policy at the provincial and federal levels and a reluctance to put forward critical analyses of the economic and social forces that drive policy-making that creates poverty.”

The problem remains, however, that the level of stable, secure baseline funding required to dramatically reduce poverty (much less to eliminate it) far outstrips the limited revenue-generating capacity that municipal governments have under the constitution. Addressing this shortfall would require serious commitment on the part of both senior levels of government, especially the federal. While cities are limited to “property tax and parking,” and provinces to direct taxation, the federal government has the ability to levy both direct and indirect taxes. Since the federal government has, by far, the greatest powers of revenue generation of the three levels of government, the onus is on it to take the initiative. It could start with an overhaul of the Canada Social Transfer, one that would replace block transfers calculated on a per capita basis for each province with an across-the-board cost-sharing formula designed to ensure that, even in lean economic times, provinces would receive the support they need from Canada’s central government. With respect to social assistance, the federal government could require provinces to index income security rates to the living wage in specific municipalities so that those who depend on such assistance are not forced below the poverty line, on the understanding that the federal government would assume a share of the cost. It would also be helpful if the provincial minimum wage could be indexed to the rate of inflation so that its value would not erode over time. As analysts at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy so aptly put it, not indexing benefits is like “closing a door slightly more every year and allowing fewer and fewer people to pass through” (Battle, Torjman, and Mendelson 2016).

Finally, even though, in June 2017, the federal government made a commitment to the creation of 40,000 subsidized child care spaces over the next three years (Scotti 2017), Canadians are still a long way from having access to a free universal child care program, such as is available in many European countries. Such programs remove a significant obstacle from the path of caregivers, mostly women, who either wish or need to join the workforce or would like to pursue further education or develop new skills, and the country’s failure to implement such a program amounts to a denial of equity.

If the federal government were to enact such reforms, the BC government would no longer have an excuse not to reinstate funding for services and programs that it has been steadily gutting since the early 2000s. It is no surprise that these cuts have correlated with burgeoning food bank use and a dramatic upsurge in provincial poverty rates and in homelessness. Lack of access to efficient and affordable public transportation also plays a role in keeping poverty rates high. The province could recognize that the need for such transportation is not confined to Metro Vancouver and make a significant investment in the province’s smaller cities by contributing to the cost of public transportation infrastructure and service. Such investment would help to level the playing field when it comes to poverty reduction.

Municipal governments can contribute to poverty reduction by creating a supportive local atmosphere. They can set a good example by implementing proactive poverty reduction policies, such as a living wage for civic employees, and by rewarding local employers who voluntarily adopt such a policy. Municipalities can also counter punitive approaches to drug addiction by promoting harm reduction measures. In a country that prides itself on its multiculturalism and its reputation as a fair and just society, it is essential that social policies target marginalized and at-risk populations and that local services are inclusive and welcoming to all people regardless of gender, age, colour, culture, religious affiliation (if any), and sexual orientation.

Small cities cannot do all this on their own, however, nor can provinces: Canada’s federal government needs to make good on its responsibility for the social and economic well-being of the country’s citizens, regardless of the region in which they live. In that regard, there are signs that things may be changing for the better. In 2017, the federal government began consultations with businesses, community organizations, academic experts, and members of the public about the creation of a national poverty reduction strategy. While such a strategy would certainly be a step in the right direction, imagine if the government committed itself to actually eliminating poverty altogether. That is precisely what a private member’s bill (Bill C-545) introduced into Parliament in June 2010 sought to do. Titled “An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada,” the bill would have imposed “on the federal government the obligation to eliminate poverty and promote social inclusion” (Canada 2010, sec. 2). The bill never got beyond its first reading. A similar private member’s bill was introduced in October 2013, which likewise foundered.45 Perhaps the federal government could begin by revisiting such proposed legislation, with a view to passing it into law.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the planning professionals and community advocates who directed us to key resources and provided the context for poverty reduction issues in Abbotsford and New Westminster, including John Stark, Tristan Johnson, Jaimie McEvoy, Christina Ragneborg, Sue Federspiel, Reuben Koole, Don Luymes, Jodi Newnham, Cherie Enns, Ron van Wyk, Stacey Corriveau, Gail Franklin, Kathy Doerksen, and Barry Shantz. Paul would also like to extend a special thanks to his wife, Lydia, for keeping the rest of the world at bay while he spent copious hours writing and researching, and to Bernadette Jenkinson Le for her expertise on urban planning and her practical assistance with referencing and research questions.

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First Call. 2010. 2010 Child Poverty Report Card. Vancouver: First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, with the support of SPARC BC.

———. 2013. 2013 Child Poverty Report Card. Vancouver: First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, with the support of SPARC BC.

Food Banks Canada. 2013. Hunger Count 2013. Mississauga, ON: Food Banks Canada.

———. 2016. Hunger Count 2016. Mississauga, ON: Food Banks Canada.

Fraser Valley Regional District and Mennonite Central Committee, British Columbia. 2014. “Homelessness in the Fraser Valley: The Continuing Challenge.” Slide presentation, 13 May.

Fraser Valley Regional District and MCC Community Enterprises. 2017. Preliminary Findings: 2017 FRVD Homeless Count. 22 March.

Garrett-Petts, W. F., ed. 2005. The Small Cities Book: On the Cultural Future of Small Cities. Vancouver: New Star Books.

Granger, Grant. 2011. “City of New Westminster Interprets Living Wage Policy.” New Westminster News Leader, 9 February.

Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness. 2014. Results of the 2014 Homeless Count in the Metro Vancouver Region. Vancouver: RSCH.

Gross, Brian. 2014. Abbotsford’s Youth Health Centre: Background, Operational, Outcome and Budgetary Report (2010–2014). Abbotsford, BC: Abbotsford Youth Health Centre Leadership Team.

Gutiérrez, Gustavo. 1983. The Power of the Poor in History. Translated by Robert R. Barr. New York: Orbis Books.

“Homeless People on Mayors’ Agenda.” 2006. The Province, 25 April.

Honey-Ray, Lucie, and Cherie Enns. 2009. Child and Youth Friendly Abbotsford: Community Strategy. Abbotsford, BC: City of Abbotsford.

Hopes. Vikki. 2016. “New Living Wage Employer.” Abbotsford News, 26 December.

Huffington Post BC. 2013. “Abbotsford Pride Parade a First for ‘Bible Belt’ Region.” Huffington Post, 26 May. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/26/abbotsford-pride-parade_n_3338033.html.

Irwin, John. 2004. Home Insecurity: The State of Social Housing Funding in BC. Vancouver: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Office, and Tenants Rights Action Coalition.

Ivanova, Iglika, and Seth Klein. 2015. Working for a Living Wage: Making Paid Work Meet Basic Family Needs in Metro Vancouver—2015 Update. Vancouver: Living Wage for Families Campaign, First Call, and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Klein, Seth, Iglika Ivanova, and Andrew Leyland. 2017. Long Overdue: Why BC Needs a Poverty Reduction Plan. Vancouver: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Office.

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———. 2017a. “New Westminster Set to Launch Rent Bank Program.” The Record (New Westminster), 4 April.

———. 2017b. “Homelessness Grows by 25 Per Cent in New West.” The Record (New Westminster), 12 April.

Mills, Kevin. 2013. “Committee Condemns Manure Incident, Searches for Homeless Solutions.” Abbotsford News, 12 June.

National Council of Welfare. 1991. The Canada Assistance Plan: No Time for Cuts. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services. http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/cnb-ncw/H68-28-1991-eng.pdf.

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———. 2008. Livable City Strategy: An Economic Development Plan for New Westminster. New Westminster, BC: City of New Westminster.

———. 2015. Living Wage Policy. Issued January 2011, revised January 2015. New Westminster, BC: City of New Westminster, Human Resources.

———. 2016. Community Poverty Reduction Strategy. New Westminster, BC: City of New Westminster.

———. 2017. Our City 2041: New Westminster Official Community Plan. New Westminster, BC: City of New Westminster.

Omand, Geordon. 2015. “Homeless in Abbotsford, B.C., Win Right to Camp Outside.” Globe and Mail, 21 October.

Olsen, Tyler. 2017. “Living Wage on City Radar, But Officials Wary of ‘Snap Decision.’” Abbotsford News, 28 June.

Paley, Dawn. 2011. “Canada’s Largest Credit Union Adopts a Living Wage.” The Tyee, 2 June. http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Rights-Justice/2011/06/02/VancityLivingWage/.

Raphael, Dennis. 2011. Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life. 2nd ed. Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press.

Richards, Tim, Marcy Cohen, Seth Klein, and Deborah Littman. 2008. Working for a Living Wage: Making Paid Work Meet Basic Family Needs in Metro Vancouver. Vancouver: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, and the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria.

Rolfsen, Catherine. 2008. “Abbotsford Pride Parade Quashed by Online Protesters.” Vancouver Sun, 24 November.

“SARA for Women Named Living Wage Employer.” 2017. Abbotsford News, 16 April.

Sasagawa, Emi. 2014. “Homeless Population Spikes in Abbotsford.” The Tyee, 13 May. http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/05/13/Abbotsford-Homeless-Spike/.

Scotti, Monique. 2017. “Liberals Announce New Child-Care Agreement, but Who Will It Help?” Global News, 12 June. https://globalnews.ca/news/3520212/liberals-announce-new-child-care-agreement-but-who-will-it-help/.

Statistics Canada. 2009. Low Income Cut-Offs for 2008 and Low Income Measures for 2007. Ottawa: Minister of Industry. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75f0002m/75f0002m2009002-eng.pdf.

Toth, Christina. 2010a. “More Harm Than Good: Mobile Needle Truck Could Beat City Bylaw.” Abbotsford Times, 18 May.

———. 2010b. “Another Look at Harm Reduction.” Abbotsford Times, 11 June.

Valleriani, Jenna, and Donald MacPherson. 2015. “Why Canada Is No Longer a Leader in Global Drug Policy.” Globe and Mail, 27 October.

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1 Prior to the introduction of the Canada Health and Social Transfer, federal funding for health and postsecondary education had been provided (since 1977) through Established Programs Financing (EPF), which had likewise replaced a system of cost-sharing with block transfer payments to provinces. The CHST thus amalgamated the CAP and EPF programs. In 2004, however, the functions were again reconfigured, with the Canada Social Transfer covering social programs and postsecondary education and the Canada Health Transfer covering health care. For an overview, see “History of Health and Social Transfers,” Department of Finance Canada, 2014, https://www.fin.gc.ca/fedprov/his-eng.asp.

2 Indeed, for many years, Canada enjoyed the “dubious distinction of being the only Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) country without an ongoing national housing program” (Irwin 2004, 7)—a situation that changed only in 2017, when the Trudeau government released its National Housing Strategy (Canada 2017; see also Kading and Walmsley, this volume).

3 These figures are based on Statistics Canada’s before-tax low income cut-offs (LICOs). A low income cut-off is an income threshold, beneath which a family will likely devote a larger share of its income to basic necessities than would an average family. Statistics Canada calculates two sets of LICOs, one based on total income (including government transfers) prior to taxes and the other on after-tax income. In contrast, a low income measure (LIM)—an approach widely used internationally—is defined as 50 percent of the median family income, adjusted for family size, calculated on the basis of annual surveys of family income (Statistics Canada 2009, 7, 11).

4 In fact, as the authors of this report point out, there is no official “poverty line” in Canada. Rather, Statistics Canada uses several different measures of poverty—not only the LICO and the LIM, but also the MBM, or market basket measure. As the authors further note, the LICO has not been rebased since 1992, and while it has been indexed annually for inflation, the actual cost of housing and other basic necessities has been rising faster in many areas than the Consumer Price Index in general. As a result, the LICO is “an increasingly unreliable metric,” one that economists at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives no longer use. Moreover, because both the LICO and the LIM calculate poverty rates using the same income thresholds for the entire country, neither can adequately reflect BC’s relatively high housing costs. In this respect, the MBM, which is based on the actual cost of a specific “basket” of goods and services in communities of different sizes, is probably the most accurate measure of poverty rates in BC. See Klein, Ivanova, and Leyland (2017, 11–12).

5 “Business and Economy: Why New West,” City of New Westminster, 2016, https://www.newwestcity.ca/business-and-economy/economic-development/why-new-west#leading-employers (under “Leading Employers”).

6 For example, prior to entering politics, NDP member Peter Julian, one of the two MPs who represent New Westminster (along with neighbouring Burnaby), made his reputation in the community by leading a social action campaign to save St. Mary’s, a New Westminster hospital that was eventually closed by the provincial government in spite of a groundswell of public protest. The other federal riding that straddles New Westminster, Port Moody-Coquitlam, is also represented by an NDP MP, Fin Donnelly, who has a background in community work and environmental activism. Provincially, Judy Darcy, the current NDP MLA, has advocated for improvements in child care, public health, programs for the elderly, and education.

7 At the federal level, Abbotsford’s current MP, Conservative Ed Fast, occupies the seat formerly held by far-right icon Randy White. At the provincial level, since the collapse of the conservative Social Credit Party in 1991, Abbotsford MLAs have generally hailed from the BC Liberal Party, a coalition of centre-right forces that effectively replaced Social Credit at a time when the provincial Conservative Party is for all practical purposes defunct.

8 For a detailed account, see “Historic Abbotsford,” City of Abbotsford, 2017, https://caed.abbotsford.ca/historic-abbotsford/.

9 At the time of writing, only some of the data from the 2016 census were available. As a result, Table 10.1 is based on the 2016 census, while Table 10.2 is based on data in the 2011 census. National Household Survey. As is well known, for the purposes of the 2011 census, the federal government, under the leadership of Conservative Stephen Harper, chose to eliminate the mandatory long-form census (LFC), which was replaced by the voluntary National Household Survey (NHS). Although the NHS included questions pertaining to socioeconomic status, critics contend that the data generated by the NHS are weaker than those derived from the LFC. Among other things, at 68.6 percent, the response rate to the NHS was far lower than the response rate of 93.5 percent to the LFC in 2006; response rates were particularly poor among certain segments of the population, including Indigenous communities and low-income earners. Moreover, according to one commentator, when survey data were released to the public in 2013, “information on thousands of smaller communities was withheld because of low response rates” (Ditchburn 2014). In response to such concerns, the Liberal government elected in October 2015 reinstated the LFC for the 2016 census.

10 “Population of Abbotsford 2017,” Canada Population 2017, 24 January 2017, http://canadapopulation2017.com/population-of-abbotsford-2017.html.

11 “Census Profiles,” Statistics Canada, 2016, https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E.

12 See “Renewed Gas Tax Agreement,” Union of BC Municipalities, 2012, http://www.ubcm.ca/EN/main/funding/renewed-gas-tax-agreement.html.

13 “About Affordable Housing in Canada,” Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2015, http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/inpr/afhoce/afhoce_021.cfm.

14 “Report: 2014 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count Results for New Westminster,” Beverley Grieve, Director of Development Services, to Mayor and Council, 5 May 2014, https://www.newwestcity.ca/council_minutes/0505_14_CW/11.%20DS%202014%20Metro%20Vancouver%20Homeless%20Count.pdf, 3.

15 Ibid., 2.

16 Ibid., 3.

17 The City of New Westminster planned to cover the cost of providing this space through the revenue generated by the city’s newly instituted Sunday parking fees. Proponents of the daycare initiative had to vie for a share of this new revenue stream along with a number of other interested parties within the city (such as its Engineering Department).

18 Report No. DEV 097-2007, “Affordable Housing Action Plan Update,” Don Luymes, Manager, Community Planning, to Mayor and Council of the City of Abbotsford, 10 April 2007, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/2546?expanded=8367&preview=8787; see also Abbotsford ([2007?], 2–3); Abbotsford (2011b, 1). Later in the month, the proposals outlined in the report were approved by the city council’s Executive Committee. Meeting minutes, Executive Committee, City Council, Abbotsford, 23 April 2007, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/19800?preview=8804, item 5.2.3.

19 Report No. ADM 59-2007, “Executive Committee Report: Secondary Suite Enforcement,” Grant Acheson, Director, Development Services, and Gordon Ferguson, Manager, Bylaw and Animal Control, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/document/9090. The legalization of rental suites is a complaints-driven process. When the city receives a complaint about an illegal suite, a bylaw officer is sent to inspect the property. If the suite passes inspection, the owner is offered the opportunity to register it by paying a fee; if it doesn’t, the owner is required to remove it.

20 Report No. EDP 298-2010, “Agricultural Land Commission Application at 29183 Fraser Highway,” Melissa Pryce, Planner, to Mayor and Council of the City of Abbotsford, 29 November 2010, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/12906?preview=20936, 2. A supportive recovery house was defined as a residence that provides “a supportive and structured environment for individuals recovering from drug or alcohol addiction, before they are ready to move into independent housing” (2). See also Report No. DEV 207-2007, “Rezoning Text Amendment to Permit Supportive Recovery Homes,” Don Luymes, Manager, Community Planning; Jodi Newnham, Social Planner; and Margaret-Ann Thornton, Senior Planner, to Mayor and Council of the City of Abbotsford, 26 September 2007, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/2546?preview=9096.

21 “Affordable Housing,” City of Abbotsford, n.d., http://www.abbotsford.ca/community/housing/affordable_housing.htm.

22 “Site Proposed for Transitional Housing for Men in Abbotsford,” British Columbia, news release, 8 April 2011, https://news.gov.bc.ca/stories/site-proposed-for-transitional-housing-for-men-in-abbotsford.

23 “Permitting Secondary Suites: Harmony Housing—Abbotsford, British Columbia,” Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2017, https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/inpr/afhoce/afhoce/afhostcast/afhoid/pore/pesesu/pesesu_006.cfm.

24 “Affordable Housing,” City of Abbotsford, n.d., http://www.abbotsford.ca/community/housing/affordable_housing.htm.

25 Meeting minutes, Abbotsford Social Development Advisory Committee, 14 January 2009, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/19461?preview=10170, item 6.2.

26 Meeting minutes, Abbotsford Social Development Advisory Committee, 12 June 2013, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/31331?preview=38155, 1–2.

27 Braun’s understanding appears to have been accurate. Two years later, in an examination for discovery conducted on 24 April 2015 in connection with BC/Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors v. City of Abbotsford (2014 BCSC 1817), the city manager testified that that the city does not know “what health care or social services are provided to Abbotsford’s Homeless after an eviction from a homeless encampment” or “what the meaning of the term ‘homeless encampment’ is in relation to a city policy document entitled ‘Homeless Encampments on Public Lands, Closure, Protocol, Roles and Responsibilities.’” He further indicated that the city does not “maintain a protocol to support homeless people who are evicted from homeless encampments,” nor does it “assess the welfare of the occupants of homeless camps in deciding whether to close a camp” or “have any policy established by City Council in relation to homeless encampments.” “Opening Statement of the Plaintiff” (New Westminster Registry No. 159480) to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, 6–7, available at http://www.pivotlegal.org/submissions_from_dws_to_the_bc_supreme_court.

28 Abbotsford (City) v. Shantz (2015 BCSC 1909), https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2015/2015bcsc1909/2015bcsc1909.pdf, paras. 6, 5. See also CBC News (2014b, 2015); Omand (2015).

29 Meeting minutes, City Council, Abbotsford, 17 February 2014, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/39874?preview=40572, item 4.2.

30 “Hearthstone Place Now Open: 30 New Supportive Homes in Abbotsford,” Abbotsford Community Services, 31 March 2017, https://www.abbotsfordcommunityservices.com/news/acs-news/hearthstone-place-now-open-30-new-supportive-homes-abbotsfor.

31 On Harper’s policies, see, for example, Nazlee Maghsoudi, “Impeding Access to Healthcare: Harper’s Crusade Against Harm Reduction,” The Harper Decade, 13 October 2015, http://www.theharperdecade.com/blog/2015/10/12/impeding-access-to-healthcare-harpers-crusade-against-harm-reduction. On the failure of punitive approaches, see Valleriani and MacPherson (2015); and Weaver, this volume.

32 See “Health Programs,” Purpose Society, 2017, http://www.purposesociety.org/health-programs/.

33 Report No. EDP 147-2010, “Development of a Harm Reduction Policy,” Reuben Koole, Social Planner; Carl Johannsen, Manager of Community Planning; and Margaret-Ann Thornton, Director of Planning, to Mayor and Council of the City of Abbotsford, 26 May 2010, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/12906?preview=17691. Attached to the report were letters from both the Fraser Health Authority and the Hepatitis C Council of British Columbia asking the city to review the bylaw.

34 Meeting minutes, Executive Committee, City Council, Abbotsford, 7 June 2010, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/20059, item 5.1.9, “Development of a Harm Reduction Policy”; meeting minutes, Abbotsford Social Development Advisory Committee, 9 June 2010, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/19415?preview=19749, item 3.1.

35 Report No. EDP 36-2013, “Harm Reduction Public Forums Summary,” Reuben Koole, Social Planner, to Mayor and Council of the City of Abbotsford, 25 March 2013, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/2546?expanded=30608&preview=31343; meeting minutes, Executive Committee, City Council, Abbotsford, 22 April 2013, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/30654?preview=31786, item 4.2, “Harm Reduction Public Forums Summary.” The amendment to the bylaw was submitted to the Executive Council in November: see Report No. EDP 154-2013, “Harm Reduction Zoning Bylaw Amendment and Related Regulatory Documents,” Reuben Koole, Social Planner, to Mayor and Council of the City of Abbotsford, 25 November 2013, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/document/39488.

36 See also meeting minutes, City Council, Abbotsford, 13 January 2014, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/19391?expanded=39874&preview=40173, item 4.11, “Bylaw No. 2268-2013.”

37 In 2011, more than one out of four unattached Canadians qualified as low income after taxes—27.2 percent of men and 28.3 percent of women. “Persons in Low Income After Tax (in Percent, 2007–2011),” Statistics Canada, 2013, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil19a-eng.htm.

38 The implementation of the course was part of the settlement of a legal challenge brought by a gay couple, who argued that the exclusion of gays from Abbotsford school curricula amounted to systemic discrimination. In response to the school board’s decision to pull the course, the same couple mounted a second challenge, with the result that the course was reinstituted in the fall of 2009, with the provision that students could enrol in it only with their parents’ written permission (CBC 2009).

39 “Over the Rainbow,” BC211, 19 June 2014, http://redbookonline.bc211.ca/service/11771093_11771093/over_the_rainbow.

40 Meeting minutes, City Council, Abbotsford, 15 June 2015, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/43665, item 8.2; Report No. COR 055-2015, “Draft Council Policy No. 100-3-02 (Flag Protocol),” Bill Flitton, Director, Legislative Services, and George Murray, City Manager, to Mayor and Council of the City of Abbotsford, 3 July 2015, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/document/45675; meeting minutes, Executive Committee, City Council, Abbotsford, 13 July 2015, https://abbotsford.civicweb.net/filepro/documents/43684?preview=45925.

41 In 2014, following the election of Henry Braun as mayor, the newly constituted city council disbanded ASDAC, as part of a structural overhaul intended to streamline council’s operations that saw twenty advisory committees reduced to eight (Butler 2014). Affordable housing now falls under the purview of the new Development Advisory Committee, while the Homelessness Action Advisory Committee (also new) assumes responsibility for the welfare of city’s homeless population. “Council Committees,” City of Abbotsford, 2018, https://www.abbotsford.ca/city_hall/mayor_and_council/city_council_committees.htm.

42 “Report: 2014 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count Results for New Westminster,” Beverley Grieve, Director of Development Services, to Mayor and Council, 5 May 2014, https://www.newwestcity.ca/council_minutes/0505_14_CW/11.%20DS%202014%20Metro%20Vancouver%20Homeless%20Count.pdf, 4.

43 The Fraser Valley living wage is calculated annually. In 2015, it stood at $17.27 an hour, but it dropped in 2016 to $16.28 and again in 2017 to $15.90, a decrease that reflected federal government income transfers from the Canada Child Benefit, which began in July 2016. It rose significantly in 2018, however, to $17.40, largely in response to the soaring price of housing. For further information, see “Resources,” Vibrant Abbotsford, 2018, http://vibrantabbotsford.ca/resources, as well as the website of the Living Wage for Families Campaign, http://www.livingwageforfamilies.ca/.

44 See “Vibrant Communities: Cities Reducing Poverty,” Tamarack Institute, 2018, http://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/citiesreducingpoverty.

45 Bill C-545 was introduced by Tony Martin, NDP MP from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and Bill C-233 by Jean Crowder, NPD MP from Nanaimo-Cowichan. BC. See “Private Member’s Bill: C-545, An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada,” Parliament of Canada, 2011, http://www.parl.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Bill=C545&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3; and “Bill C-233 (Historical): Poverty Elimination Act,” OpenParliament.ca, n.d. [2015?], https://openparliament.ca/bills/41-2/C-233/.