Marriage and poverty in Canada

Some family forms are more susceptible to poverty than others

September 28, 2012 | by Peter Jon Mitchell
PDF:  Marriage and poverty in Canada

Endnotes

  1. Statistics Canada (2012) Income in Canada 2010: Analysis. Ottawa: Minister of Industry. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-202-x/2010000/analysis-analyses-eng.htm
  2. Ibid.
  3. Taylor, P.S. (2007) Family poverty in Canada: raising incomes and strengthening families. Canadian Family Views. Ottawa: Institute of Marriage and Family Canada, p. 9. Retrieved from http://www.imfcanada.org/sites/default/files/Family%20Poverty%20in%20Canada_0.pdf
  4. Statistics Canada (2011, June 15) Income of Canadians (correction), 2009. The Daily. Ottawa: Minister of Industry. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/110615/dq110615b-eng.htm
    A number of factors may have contributed to the decline of poverty among lone-parent families. Professor John Richards at the Public Policy School at Simon Fraser provides one perspective in a report for the C.D. Howe Institute, arguing that lone-parent poverty rates decreased because of a combination of favorable labour market conditions and reforms to social assistance programs. See Richards, J. (2010, June) Reducing lone-parent poverty: A Canadian success story. Commentary No. 305. Toronto: C.D. Howe Institute. Available at http://www.cdhowe.org/pdf/commentary_305.pdf
  5. Statistics Canada (2012) Portrait of families and living arrangements in Canada. Families, households and marital status, 2011 Census of Population. Ottawa: Minister of Industry. Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-312-x/98-312-x2011001-eng.cfm
  6. Statistics Canada (2012) Distribution (in percentage) of the legal marital status of lone parents, Canada, 1961 to 2011.  Fifty years of families in Canada: 1961 to 2011. Ottawa: Minister of Industry. Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-312-x/2011003/fig/desc/desc3_1-2-eng.cfm
  7. Statistics Canada (2012) Table 1 Distribution (number and percentage) and percentage change of census families by family structure, Canada, 2001 to 2011. Portrait of families and living arrangements in Canada. Ottawa: Minister of Industry. Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-312-x/2011001/tbl/tbl1-eng.cfm
  8. Rector, R. (2012) Marriage: America’s greatest weapon against child poverty. Washington: The Heritage Foundation, p.2. Retrieved from http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2012/pdf/sr117.pdf
  9. Rector, 2012, p. 1. Note that the poverty rate is in the United States is calculated differently than in Canada.
  10. Rector, 2012, p.2.
  11. Rector, 2012, p. 3.
  12. Rector, 2012, p.3.
  13. Finnie, R. and Sweetman, A. (2003) Poverty dynamics: empirical evidence for Canada. Canadian Journal of Economics, vol. 36, no.2. For further analysis of Finnie and Sweetman’s findings see Taylor, P.S. (2007) Family poverty in Canada: raising incomes and strengthening families. Canadian Family Views. Ottawa: Institute of Marriage and Family Canada. Available at http://www.imfcanada.org/sites/default/files/Family%20Poverty%20in%20Canada_0.pdf
  14. For examples see: Murray, C. (2012). Coming apart. The state of white America, 1960 – 2010. New York: Crown Forum. Read a review by the IMFC of the book at http://www.imfcanada.org/issues/families-and-marriage-hold-country-together
    Hymowitz, K. (2007) Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and unequal families in a post-marital age. New York: Ivan r. Dee. A review by the IMFC of the book is available in the Spring/Summer 2007 edition of the IMFC Review available at http://www.imfcanada.org/sites/default/files/IMFC_Spring07.pdf
  15. For a summary of the benefits for adults, see The benefits of marriage for adults. Family Facts. Ottawa: Institute of Marriage and Family Canada. Available at http://www.imfcanada.org/fact-sheet/benefits-marriage-adults