What are the implications of different definitions and means by which to measure ‘poverty’?

What are the implications of different definitions and means by which to measure ‘poverty’?
“Finally, Dr. Graham Riches, Director of the UBC School of Social Work, analyses the changes of social welfare policy, during the 1980s, which undermined the very principles upon which the Canada Assistance Plan was based—leaving hundreds of thousands of Canadian welfare recipients and their dependent children well below the Statistics Canada Low Income Cut-Offs, in deep poverty. He chronicles the emergence of food banks and shelters for the homeless, to cope with the consequences of underfunded social programs, and questions why the Canadian public allowed this to happen.

Although much has changed since the turn of the century, the support provided through social assistance programs remains well below the cost of living—even at a very modest level—and this has serious consequences not only for recipients, but for society at large. The introductory readings sensitize us to the major themes pursued in this course.

As you work though this reading and make study notes, consider the following questions:

What is the principle of “less eligibility”?
What prompted provincial governments to cut back on their rates of income
support during the 1980s and 1990s?
Consider how standards were lowered, despite rules that applied to all federally
funded (CAP) programs, and explain how the provinces got away with it.
Although many income assistance recipients ‘lost’ as a result of the changing rules
and levels of support, who reaped the ‘benefits’?
As public support for the destitute withered, what grew to fill the gaps?”

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