Thank you so much for having me.
My name is Daryl Quantz. I'm a volunteer board member of the Public Health Association of British Columbia, and I'm also the chair of that association's policy, advocacy, and research committee. I work with the population health team of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. It provides support to our service delivery teams and partners to address the social determinants of health. A significant portion of my role is raising awareness of issues, such as poverty, that affect the health of our populations.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here today to speak with you.
Today I am representing a group called the British Columbia Poverty Reduction Coalition. The coalition represents over 200 NGOs--health, community, faith, first nations, aboriginal, and civil society groups--that have been advocating for the reduction of poverty in British Columbia. Our coalition believes that there is nothing inevitable about poverty. Our goal is to see the development and successful implementation of a provincial poverty reduction plan, with targets and timelines for eliminating poverty in our province, similar to what has been done in other jurisdictions across the country and internationally. We have developed and sent an open letter to all B.C. political parties outlining these targets and timelines and policy options, which are based on successful poverty reduction work in other jurisdictions.
As a coalition, we feel that accountability is imperative, and we are encouraging this accountability by recommending the appointment of a minister or a cross-ministerial committee that would be responsible for overseeing targets and strategy.
I know that you have heard this question across the country. From a public health perspective, why, as a nation, should we be concerned about poverty, aside from, of course, the social justice argument, which should be considered?
Poverty represents a significant threat to the health of our population and to the sustainability of our health care system. Study after study has identified the negative impact poverty has on our health. In British Columbia, a report prepared recently by the Health Officers Council of B.C., which represents all the medical health officers in our province, showed that population health indicators were consistently poorer for lower-income groups. Life expectancy alone varies by 15 years, depending on the area in which you live in our province. Rates of chronic conditions, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, are consistently higher for low-income groups.
Last year I was pleased to see two significant national reports that shared greater insight into the impact of poverty on our health. In the report entitled Reducing Gaps in Health: A Focus on Socio-Economic Status in Urban Canada, medical health officers from urban areas across Canada used socio-economic variables to report on health outcomes. Again, this data revealed higher rates of disease and more use of expensive acute-care services among those in lower socio-economic groups.
In his 2008 report, the chief public health officer of Canada reported on these differences in health outcomes and noted them under the term “health inequities”, a term that is growing in use across the world. In his report, Dr. Butler-Jones noted a variation on a well-known quote, which is that a society is only as healthy as its least healthy members. He emphasized our need to pay attention to the underlying social and economic factors that determine the health of our citizens.
For decades Canada has been seen as an international leader in population health. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion continues to be a seminal document across the world for health promotion. We have an opportunity to continue this leadership through decisive action to address poverty in our nation.
As a coalition, we recognize that government alone cannot solve this issue. However, government plays an essential role in leading policy direction and in engaging stakeholders to solve this issue, as we are here to do today.
I have a final comment. As a member of various partnerships and coalitions that are advocating on the poverty issue, it is a continual source of frustration when the issue is diverted away from those who are facing poverty and their stories and conditions and towards arguments about exact measures. The low-income cut-off and the market basket measure were both developed to provide a measure of low-income circumstances in Canada. Like any statistic or measure, they are not perfect. That the numbers may be a little more or less is not a justification for inaction. I would encourage the committee to take leadership in affirming the information and methods we do have available.
I'd just like to close by expressing our coalition's appreciation for the committee's efforts. As a Canadian, it makes me proud that we are not only engaging in this dialogue but are also beginning to move forward as well.
Thank you very much.