A quarter (26%, +4 pts) of Canadians Say They’ll Access Charitable Services to Meet Essential Needs in Next 6 Months

Toronto, Ontario, May 16, 2023 — Canadians are continuing to feel the effects of inflation on their cost of living and affordability as a quarter (26%) of Canadians expect they will need to access charitable services to meet their essential needs such as food, clothing, or shelter in the next six months, according to a new Ipsos poll conducted for CanadaHelps.org. This represents an increase of 4 percentage points since last fall, when 22% of Canadians said they would likely need to access charitable services. Moreover, 23% of those polled said they are currently accessing these services already.

Women (27%) are significantly more likely to say they will need to use charitable services to get by, up 9 points from Fall 2022, while men are slightly less likely to need help (25%, -2). Those ages 18-34 (38%, +3) and 35-54 (30%, +4) are significantly more likely to require charitable services in the near future than those ages 55+ (14%, +4). Canadians whose household income is less than $40K a year (46%) are most in need, up 11 percentage points from Fall 2022 while those earning $40K to <$60K (18%, -9) are less likely to rely on these services. Three in ten (29%, +2) parents expect to access charitable services in the coming year. Regionally, demand has increased in Ontario (32%, +14), British Columbia (21%, +3) but decreased in Alberta (27%, -3), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (25%, -2), Quebec (22%, -4) and Atlantic Canada (20%, -5). Canadians who are most likely to say they will need to access charitable services are unable to work due to mental of physical illness (59%), work multiple part time jobs (43%) or are currently searching for work (40%).

Three in five Canadians who expect to need charitable services (62%) can’t keep up with the rising cost of living, followed by a quarter who say the reason they require these services is because they are facing mental or physical health issues (27%), have lost employment (23%) or have limited income due to caregiving responsibilities (21%). Others who are likely to access charitable services are facing addiction (8%), are fleeing domestic violence (7%), or say they need these services for some other reason (15%).

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between April 25^th and April 26^th, 2023 on behalf of CanadaHelps.org. For this survey, a sample of 1,000 Canadians aged 18+ were interviewed. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ±3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this Factum, please contact:

Sean Simpson
Senior Vice President, Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 416 324 2002
[email protected]

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