Cycles and Spaces of Child Poverty in Ontario

Abstract

In 2009, the Liberal government of Ontario released their first “streamlined” poverty reduction strategy to end child poverty in the province. The strategy was renewed in 2014, and an updated strategy was released in 2021 by the Conservative government of Ontario. Based on ongoing research, this chapter explores how these Poverty reduction strategies mobilize a historical conception of low-income urban environments as threats to child development. I show that, rather than end poverty, these conceptions are used to justify community revitalization efforts that displace low-income populations while prioritizing and benefiting private market investment. Central to these strategies is the figure of the child, who is constructed as innocent and vulnerable, requiring protection and saving from the perils of poverty by middle- and upper-class interventions. The chapter concludes by examining the neoliberal logic that continues to inform the 2021 strategy.

Citation

Chapados, S. (2023), "Cycles and Spaces of Child Poverty in Ontario", Berman, R., Albanese, P. and Chen, X. (Ed.) Sociological Research and Urban Children and Youth (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 32), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 139-154. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120230000032009