LICOs (Low Income Cut-Offs) are published by Stats Canada and defined as an income threshold below which a family will likely devote a larger share of its income on the necessities of food, shelter and clothing than the average family. There is an easy to read Before-Tax Low Income Cut-Off graph for 2004 on the Canadian Council on Social Development site. You can also read Stats Canada's most recent report: Low income cut-offs for 2006 and low income measures for 2005 (in PDF).

Echoes of Inner City Voices (in PDF) is a follow up report to a series of stories that ran in the Winnipeg Free Press between 1997 and 1999. The series tried to give a voice to inner city people. The recent report looks at how the inner city and the lives of inner city people have changed, as well as providing statistics on the inner city and commentary on the effectiveness of policies and programs.

The City of Toronto is becoming increasingly divided by income, ethno-cultural characteristics, and socio-economic status, says a new report, The Three Cities within Toronto (in PDF), issued by the Centre for Urban and Community Studies (CUCS) at the University of Toronto. No longer a “city of neighbourhoods,” the study calls modern-day Toronto a “city of disparities.” In fact, Toronto is now so polarized it could be described as three geographically distinct cities made up of 20 percent affluent neighbourhoods, 36 percent poor neighbourhoods, and 43 percent middle-income earner neighbourhoods and that 43 percent is in decline.