Economic Barriers Due to Global and Colonial Systems
We live in a time of extreme global inequality that seems to be getting worse rather than better. According to the World Inequality Report (2022, para. 4), “Income and wealth inequalities have been on the rise nearly everywhere since the 1980s, following a series of deregulation and liberalization programs which took different forms in different countries.” Acemoglu (2017) argued that the current global economic inequality can be traced back to colonialism:
Retracing our steps 500 years, or back to the verge of this colonial project, we see little inequality and small differences between poor and rich countries (perhaps a factor of four). Now the differences are a factor of more than 40, if we compare the richest to the poorest countries in the world (para. 1).
While there is great inequality seen across nations, the most extreme rise has been within nations. This is highlighted by World Inequality Report (2022), who observed, “The poorest half of the global population barely owns any wealth at all, possessing just 2% of the total. In contrast, the richest 10% of the global population own 76% of all wealth.” Canada is a wealthy nation in the global system, yet within the country, many people struggle to make ends meet. According to Statistics Canada (2022), in 2021, 7.4% of the population were living below the poverty line, in comparison to 6.4 % of the population in 2020. This showcases the rise of poverty. If we were to focus these statistics on marginalized groups in Canada, the numbers would be higher.
According to Indigenous Corporate Training (2023), a look at the 2021 census determined that
Of the 1.8 million Indigenous people in Canada in 2021, 18.8% lived in a low-income household, as defined using the low-income measure, after tax, compared with 10.7% of the non-Indigenous population. Nearly one-quarter (24.6%) of Indigenous children aged 14 years and younger lived in a low-income household in 2021, more than double the rate among non-Indigenous children (11.1%) (para. 1).
Large disparities can also be found in statistics of children in one parent families, racialized populations, and immigrants, particularly refugees. When working as a community support worker, the majority of the clients will be low income, and may have a lack of resources. When working with newcomers, it is important to consider some of the factors that drive migration and the impact of those factors on settlement services.
References
Acemoglu, D. (2017, January 30). The economic impact of colonialism. Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) EU. https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/economic-impact-colonialism
Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. (2023, April 4). Lower income- #4 of 8 key issues for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/lower-income-4-of-8-key-issues-for-indigenous-peoples-in-canada
Statistics Canada. (2024, June 1). Dimensions of poverty hub. Government of Canada. https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/topics-start/poverty
World Inequality Report. (2022). Executive summary. https://wir2022.wid.world/executive-summary/
