Myths about Poverty How truly educated are you?

“Poverty is the failure of the individual. “ Massive increases in unemployment in Canada in recent years have not resulted from personal inadequacy. Many workers have lost their jobs for reasons beyond their control and cannot find work because it is not available. Many people are on welfare because they are temporarily unable to provide for themselves, often due to some personal or economic crisis beyond their control.

“The poor do not want to work. “ The fact is that most poor people do work full or part-time; over 60% of those heading poor families, over 70% of poor unattached individuals. About 37% of the people who are dependent on welfare are children. Another 16% are single mothers, many still caring for young children. If we look at the number of welfare cases, we find that about 24% are headed by people considered to be disabled.

“Poor families are poor because they have too many children. “ Most poor families have none, one or two children. Only 15% have 3 or more children under 18. From: hs_e.htmhttp:// hs_e.htm with information from the National Anti-Poverty Organization And the Canadian Council on Social Development

“Poor people need to be taught basic life skills like budgeting.“ Many who live far below the poverty line must spend all or most of their income on basic needs. Anyone who manages to feed and clothe a family on a very limited income already has budgeting skills.

“All children in Canada are assured a decent start in life.” Recent studies show strong links between poverty, poor health and poor achievement at school. Even though infant mortality rates for all income groups are about half of what they were twenty years ago, according to the 1986 census the rate for the lowest income group was still about double that of the highest. Children in poor families are more likely to suffer chronic health problems than other children. They are almost twice as likely to drop out of school.

“There are many single teen mothers.” While more teenaged mothers now choose to raise their children themselves rather than give up their babies for adoption, the number of teen mothers in Canada is relatively small. Only 20, 000, less than one per cent of all children, lived with a teen mother in 1994.