This paper is divided into two sections‐the first section discusses the history and development of Canadian low income cut‐offs developed by Statistics Canada and the second examines problems relating to the adequacy of one year's income and the treatment of wealth in the low income data.The first section summarizes the conceptual basis of the Statistics Canada low income cut‐offs that were first introduced for an analysis of 1961 Census data; a description of the data sources for specifying the cut‐offs and examining the low income population is presented; a recently incorporated revision is described; and uses and abuses of the Canadian low income cut‐offs are described.The second section discusses two main issues. The first issue relates to the adequacy of one year's income as a poverty criterion. Between years there is a significant amount of movement in and out of low income status which varies by socio‐demographic characteristics.The second issue relates to the effect of ignoring wealth in the derivation of the low income population.The two concerns are examined empirically with data from the Canadian Survey of Consum