Income Security: A Roadmap for Change
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5. Poverty and low income negatively impact people’s health and<br />
well-being.<br />
Consider this:<br />
• Analysis by Statistics Canada indicates that income inequality is responsible<br />
<strong>for</strong> the premature death of 40,000 Canadians per year Low-income males and<br />
females 42 have 67% and 52% greater chances respectively of dying each year<br />
than their wealthy counterparts 43 <br />
• The economic cost of mental illness and addictions in Canada is at least<br />
$50 billion per year 44 According to a recent study, the burden of mental<br />
health and addiction issues on Ontarians is 15 times higher than all cancers<br />
put together and more than seven times that of all infectious diseases 45 The<br />
greatest proportion of these costs derives from:<br />
• Health care<br />
• Social services and income support costs<br />
• Lost productivity (from absenteeism and turnover)<br />
• Suicide rates in Canada were found to be almost twice as high in low-income<br />
neighbourhoods as in the wealthiest neighbourhoods 46 <br />
42 Statistics Canada does not currently collect and report this data <strong>for</strong><br />
trans-gendered persons<br />
43 As outlined by Dennis Raphael and Toba Bryant Please see: https://wwwthestar<br />
com/opinion/commentary/2014/11/23/income_inequality_is_killing_thousands_of_<br />
canadians_every_year.html<br />
44 Based on a 2016 analysis <strong>for</strong> the Mental Health Commission of Canada; please see:<br />
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/sites/default/files/2016-06/Investing_in_<br />
Mental_Health_FINAL_Version_ENG.pdf<br />
45 Ratnasingham et al (2012) Opening eyes, opening minds: The Ontario burden of<br />
mental illness and addictions An Institute <strong>for</strong> Clinical Evaluative Sciences /Public<br />
Health Ontario report Toronto: ICES<br />
46 From Mikkonen and Raphael, Social Determinants of Health – The Canadian Facts<br />
Please see: http://www.thecanadianfacts.org/The_Canadian_Facts.pdf pg 12<br />
<strong>Income</strong> <strong>Security</strong>: A <strong>Roadmap</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Change</strong> 45