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Poverty in Canada remains prevalent within some segments of society and according to a 2008 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the rate of poverty in Canada, is among the highest of the OECD member nations, the world's wealthiest industrialized nations. There is no official government definition and therefore, measure, for poverty in Canada. However, Dennis Raphael, author of Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life reported that the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Canadian poverty researchers find that relative poverty is the "most useful measure for ascertaining poverty rates in wealthy developed nations such as Canada." In its report released the Conference Board.
Currently, an income inequality measure known as low income cut-off (LICO) published by Statistics Canada is frequently used as a poverty rate and is 10.8% as of 2005. The Central Intelligence Agency uses the LICO as the relative measure results in a higher poverty figure than an absolute one. The Fraser Institute, a conservative think-tank, alleges that the federal Canadian government exaggerates poverty rates, and publishes their own measure, known as the basic needs poverty measure. According to this measure, poverty has declined significantly over the past 60 years and is 4.9% as of 2004. Statistics Canada has refused to endorse any metric as a measure of poverty, including the low-income cut off it publishes, without a mandate to do so from the federal government.
Some elements that work towards reducing poverty in Canada include Canada's strong economic growth, government transfers to persons of $164 billion per annum as of 2008, universal medical and public education systems, and minimum wage laws in each of the provinces and territories of Canada.
In recent times, after a spike in poverty and low-income rates around the 1996 recession, relative poverty has continued to decline. Certain groups experience higher low-income rates. These include children, families with single-parent mothers, aboriginals, the mentally ill, the physically handicapped, recent immigrants, and students.

Source: Wikipedia