County Statistics and Barriers

In keeping with the theme of discussing life for the actual residents of the north of Wellington County, today's posting will offer a statistical snap-shot of life in the areas of Wellington North (including Arthur and Mt. Forest), the township of Minto (including Harriston and Palmerston) as well as Guelph and Ontario as a whole, as comparison points. Of course, readers should always be aware of the dangers of statistics: their tendency to show only part of the entire picture and to be manipulated. The statistics which follow come directly from Statistics Canada's 2006 Community Profiles and the 2006 Census. Hopefully the data gives readers a partial sense for life in the County versus Guelph and the Province as a whole – at least as much as can be relayed through numbers.

Median Income of all families in 2005 (sum of the total before-tax incomes of all members of a census family)
Wellington North: $64,169
Minto Township: $61,434

Guelph: $74,927
Ontario: $69,156


Median Income of Female and Male Lone-parent families in 2005

Female Lone-parent families
Wellington North: $35,146
Minto Township: $30,062

Guelph: $38,690
Ontario: $36,496

Male Lone-Parent families
Wellington North: $58,506
Minto Township: $52,591

Guelph: $59,988
Ontario: $50,339


Median monthly payments for Rented Dwellings
Wellington North: $671
Minto Township: $645

Guelph: $800
Ontario: $801

Median monthly payments for Owner-Occupied Dwellings
Wellington North: $766
Minto Township: $826

Guelph: $1,205
Ontario: $1,046



Education

Percentage of population, 15 years and older, who do not hold any sort of certification, diploma or degree (including High School, College, Trades, University, etc.)
Wellington North: 35%
Minto Township: 34.9%

Guelph: 20.4%
Ontario: 20.5%

Percentage of population, 15 years and older, whose highest educational achievement is a High School certificate or equivalent
Wellington North: 29.8%
Minto Township: 28.5%

Guelph: 27.6%
Ontario: 26.8%

Language

Percentage of population who have no knowledge of either English or French
Wellington North: 2.4%
Minto Township: 0.84%

Guelph: 1.1%
Ontario: 2.2%


While statistics of the northern Wellington County region clearly vary from provincial averages and those of Guelph, there are still identifiable trends which are not lost simply because these communities are of smaller make-up. Female lone-parent families have lower household incomes than those of male lone-parent families – a stark gender difference that is seen across our and many other societies and which puts women at a greater economic disadvantage than men. Clearly, gender issues are bigger than the size of town you live in. What does appear to be a more localised phenomenon is that female lone-parent families in Minto Township and Wellington North gross less in a year than the provincial average while male lone-parent families actually gross more. So, while it is no surprise that provincial trends reflecting economic inequalities between men and women would also be found in more rural communities, the fact that they are perhaps further accentuated here is of note and speaks to the possibility that low-income women in the County may face more barriers than low-income men and low-income women who live in more urban centres.

Housing costs appear to be more affordable in the County. Rent is around 15-20% lower than in Guelph which is a plus for those renting, especially the County's more vulnerable members. By contrast, a lack of public transportation leading to heavy reliance on personal vehicles and the large distances to other towns and needed services may negate any savings to be had by the County's low-income residents.

As was alluded to by Richard in the previous posting, lack of transportation is perhaps one of the greatest barriers faced by low-income residents living in the north of the County and may contribute to create secondary barriers such as isolation. This speaks to the importance of having agencies extend their services to these areas instead of expecting residents of these areas to come to them. The Legal Clinic is trying to do just that. By opening satellite offices in four communities in the north of the County we hope to increase access to justice for people who may otherwise have not known about our services or felt they could not access them because of the distance to Guelph from where they live. Transportation is of course only one barrier a client may face. Other factors such as language may prevent someone from accessing services or even knowing they are there. Small communities can also be very intimate with word of people's problems spreading quickly in a community where everyone knows everyone to some degree. People may not access needed services because of a fear that their personal problems will become neighbourhood gossip. These are all factors that service providers must be aware of if they are to be effective and relevant.

Without a proper analysis of more data, including that from other jurisdictions, it is hard to say whether this statistical snap-shot of Northern Wellington County shows variations that are really statistically significant or whether they are relatively close to the provincial average compared to other communities. Statistical technicalities aside, what is clear is that there are real differences in areas such as income in the north of the County compared to an area such as Guelph. This will have real effects on people living in these jurisidctions especially when taken together with the additional barriers that one may be faced with living in more rural areas. Further research into these more vulnerable populations would seem appropriate along with strategies to increase services to these areas. Legal Aid Ontario in particular, with it's focus on increasing access to justice, should not fall behind the curve in devising ways of outreaching to these populations and is commended for supporting Clinics like the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County in the pursuit of this goal.