Not Enough

At the time of this study's publication in 1984, 26 per cent--2.3 million--Canadian households lived below the poverty line; over 100,000 families subsisted on less than $5000 a year; social assistance rates provided about half of what a family required to survive. Not Enough: The Meaning and Measurement of Poverty in Canada, the report of a national task force on poverty, asserts that "serious deprivation does exist in Canada." Not Enough provides a range of detailed information, charts and graphs dealing with the extent, depth and length of poverty in Canada in the 1980s. The report is especially attentive to the regional distribution of poverty, to its increasing "feminization", and to the difficulties disabled people face maintaining their dignity in the face of chronically restricted budgets. Not Enough is a detailed snapshot of the recent past of a crippling social problem that remains with us today.