Introductionthe Health Promotion and Programs Branch of Health Canada

in Atlantic region started to focus on the determinants of health. At the top of the list of determinants of health is eincome and social statusi. It is a well-known fact that those who live in poverty are more likely to suffer ill health. The report Child Poverty in Atlantic Canada: A Discussion Paper 1 confirmed other evidence being published across the country. The problem of child poverty in Canada was staggering, and the problem was getting worse. Health Canada reached out to groups who work with people living in poverty and was quickly informed that echild povertyi is a misnomer. Children live in poor families. It is a condition that children do not control. If Canadians want to help poor children, we have to face the facts about poverty and to address the policies and conditions that influence poverty. Even the word epovertyi is misleading. Poverty cannot be described simply by low income levels. Ironically, some people can manage a high quality of life on a low income while others can be caught in terrible life circumstances at the same income level. Our traditional ideas about poverty, left over from our grandparentsi experience during the depression, are not based on todayis experience of eliving below the poverty linei. The real problem is social and economic exclusion.