Placing the Poor: The Ecology of Poverty in Postwar Urban Canada

Abstract

An emergent social science literature emphasizes the growth of pockets of poverty in Canadian cities, which, many argue, leave our most economically marginalized urbanites increasingly isolated. Exploring the ecology of poverty in 10 Canadian urban areas (Halifax, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa-Hull, Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver) since 1961, the authors offer a more tempered view of recent changes to Canadian cities. While there has been some growth in localized poverty, the larger story is continuity over time and the residential integration of the poor. Canadian cities have long been places where a minority of the poor resides in neighbourhoods of concentrated poverty, but the large majority lives amongst neighbours of greater means. These realities, the authors argue, might fruitfully redirect approaches to urban poverty in Canada, especially by demonstrating the importance of poverty in integrated residential settings.