2025 Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the Parliament of Canada on behalf of the Auditor General of Canada – Federal organizations’ actions to reduce poverty achieved limited results

Press Release

Ottawa, November 6, 2025—A report released today by Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry V. DeMarco on behalf of the Auditor General of Canada concluded that most actions taken by the Canada Revenue Agency, the Department of Finance Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, and Indigenous Services Canada to help reduce poverty either did not yet achieve their expected results or the organizations were unable to assess their progress. Statistics Canada’s actions did achieve their intended results.

In the 2022–2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, the government aims to reduce the poverty rate by half from its 2015 level of 14.5% by 2030. According to the strategy, achieving this target would help support Canadians facing financial challenges and would help build a diverse, prosperous, and inclusive country where everyone benefits from economic growth. From 2015 to 2020, Canada’s overall poverty rate decreased from 14.5% to 6.4%. However, since 2020, the poverty rate has been increasing, reaching 10.2% in 2023. This represented approximately 4 million Canadians living below the poverty line, which is more than the population of any city in Canada.

In addition, the strategy requires organizations to report, in their departmental sustainable development strategies, on their actions intended to meet the poverty reduction target. The audit found that the 5 federal organizations followed the applicable guidance from Environment and Climate Change Canada to develop their departmental strategies and prepare their 2023–24 reports on their actions.

“If the federal government is to meet its commitment to reduce poverty by 50% from its 2015 level, it will need to reverse the upward trend in poverty that has taken place since 2020,” said Mr. DeMarco.

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The 2025 Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies—Poverty Reduction, is available on the Office of the Auditor General of Canada website.

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