Poverty and Policy in Canada provides a unique, interdisciplinary perspective on poverty and its importance to the health and quality of life of Canadians. This original volume considers a range of issues that will be of great interest to a variety of audiences - Social Work, Health Sciences, Sociology, Political Science, Policy Studies, Nursing, Education, Psychology, and the general public.
Central issues include the definitions of poverty and means of measuring it in wealthy, industrialized nations such as Canada; the causes of poverty - both situational and societal; the health and social implications of poverty for individuals, communities, and society as a whole; and means of addressing the incidence of poverty and improving its effects. Particular emphasis has been placed on the lived experiences of poverty throughout the book.
This new book has three, straightforward goals:

• to provide a range of approaches for understanding poverty and its effects
• to help readers understand the structural antecedents of poverty - that is, how society and its distribution of resources are the primary determinants of poverty
• to provide realistic solutions to poverty

Dennis Raphael, PhD, is a Professor of Health Policy and Management at York University. The most recent of his over 250 scientific publications have focused on the health effects of income inequality and poverty, the quality of life of communities and individuals, and the impact of government decisions on Canadians’ health and well-being. Dr. Raphael is editor of Tackling Health Inequalities: Lessons from International Experiences and Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada; co-editor of Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness, and Health Care; and author of Poverty in Canada: Implications for Health and Quality of Life.

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JACK LAYTON was elected leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada in January 2003. Since then, party membership has been expanding at an unprecedented rate. First elected to Toronto City Council in 1982, he has been an impassioned social advocate for three decades. As president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, he worked to put a new deal for cities and towns on the federal agenda. In 1991, he founded the Green Catalyst Group Inc., a sustainable policy and program design firm. He founded the White Ribbon Campaign, which has grown into an international movement to stop violence against women; and he established the first Health City program, which has been adopted by the World Health Organization and cities worldwide.
Born and raised in Quebec, Jack Layton graduated from McGill University and received his doctorate in political science from York University. Currently, he is adjunct professor at Innis College, University of Toronto. His first book, Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis, is a highly acclaimed landmark study. Jack Layton lives in Toronto with his wife, Olivia Chow, a Toronto city councillor.

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