The 2021 Annual Report on TogetherBC: B.C.’s Poverty Reduction Strategy shows poverty rates continued to decline as people benefited from COVID-19 relief and cross-government actions.

Tabled in the legislature on Oct. 5, 2022, the annual report details government actions that have contributed to the decline in the number of people living in poverty.

“I am pleased that the actions of our government in 2021, and the actions we continue to take, are lifting people out of poverty,” said Nicholas Simons, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. “Efforts across government have helped British Columbians, and this work will continue as we build a more equitable B.C.”

TogetherBC is the Province’s first poverty-reduction strategy. By law, government needs to produce an annual progress report. Key actions to help reduce poverty in 2021 included:

• making the largest permanent increase to income and disability assistance rates;
• doubling the seniors' supplement and expanding its eligibility to reach 20,000 more seniors;
• making public transit free for children 12 and younger;
• increasing the minimum wage to $15.65 an hour;
• introducing five days of paid sick leave for workers; and
• providing new protections to prevent illegal renovictions (evictions to complete renovations to a property).

According to the most-recent Statistics Canada data from 2020, B.C. has again exceeded its initial targets to reduce poverty. In 2020, there were 378,000 fewer people living in poverty than there were in 2016.

The Poverty Reduction Strategy Act requires the strategy to be renewed every five years. The first strategy was released in March 2019, and the ministry will begin to engage on a refreshed strategy this fall.

Learn More:

The 2021 TogetherBC annual report is available online:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/about-the-bc-government/poverty-reduction-strategy