Making Your impact

Wealth inequality in Canada is a growing concern, with a significant portion of the population struggling to make ends meet while a small percentage holds a large portion of the country's wealth. Some specific examples of wealth inequality in Canada include:

• The top 1% of Canadians hold nearly 25% of the country's wealth

• Indigenous peoples in Canada have a poverty rate that is nearly three times higher than non-Indigenous Canadians.

• Immigrants and people of color are also more likely to experience poverty and lack access to affordable housing, education, and healthcare.

Social enterprises can play a significant role in addressing wealth inequality by providing sustainable, value-based products and services to marginalized communities, creating jobs and economic opportunities for these communities, and reinvesting profits into programs that support these communities. Examples include:

• A social enterprise that provides affordable and accessible housing for low-income families and individuals,

• A social enterprise that employs and provides training for immigrants and refugees,

• A social enterprise that provides meaningful support to Indigenous Peoples and communities, as well as marginalized Peoples and groups across Turtle Island, and in your home.

It's also important that social enterprise work to increase transparency and accountability in their operations, they should be more open to share data on their impact, revenue and expenses to ensure that they are truly creating value for the communities they serve, and not just profiting from them.

The study that provides the numbers is analyzed data from the 2016 Canadian Survey of Financial Security and found that the top 1% of Canadians held 22.3% of the country's wealth, while the bottom 50% held just 1.1%. The study also found that the top 0.1% held 11.2% of the country's wealth. You can find the study at the CCPA website https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/canadas-billionaire-bonanza