Strong and adequate income security programs are critical towards ensuring that everyone in Canada can realize their human right to an adequate standard of living. About 2.8 million people across Canada live in poverty, unable to afford the basic necessities people need to live a life with dignity. Canada’s income security systems are rooted in dated ideas about the labour market, the cost of living, and who is deserving of support.

Our work on income security includes mapping current income security programs that are intended to promote opportunity and provide a social safety net, and understanding where those systems are working well, where they are under pressure, and how we can strengthen them so that everyone in Canada can realize their human right to an adequate standard of living. We use research to identify policy solutions and convene conversations to improve our social safety net.