Canadian Salvation Army loses members, money

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — After 120 years in Canada, the Salvation Army is determined to keep serving the poor, addicted and hungry despite government cuts, stretched donors and a sharply declining membership, says the church’s top national leader.

“Child poverty in Canada has risen to 23 percent. To me that’s a frightening number of people living below the poverty line,” said Commissioner Bill Luttrell, who visited Vancouver for a 1,700-person Salvation Army convention last month.

The Canadian Salvation Army has to struggle to offer its wide range of services at the same time governments are cutting back on welfare, seniors’ facilities and other programs for the disadvantaged, Luttrell said. The government cutbacks have forced the Salvation Army to cut more than a dozen administrative staff in British Columbia, Ontario and Newfoundland.

The recent Canadian census revealed the number of Salvation Army members across the country had dropped by 22 percent in a decade, to 87,000, leaving fewer numbers contributing to the denomination’s local outreach programs.