I have to admit that my immediate thought when I heard about the issue of Child Poverty in Canada was, “What? There is child poverty in Canada?” But yeah, of course there is. Should there be? Of course not, there is no excuse for it.

The statistic I found the most alarming was that more than 1 million, or nearly one in every six Canadian children live in poverty. In first nations communities across Canada the situation is even worse, with one in every four children growing up in poverty. In 1989 the House of Commons unaminously resolved to, “seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000.” So why does this problem still exist today?

Some more interesting statistics:

• Every month, 770,000 people in Canada use Food Banks. Forty percent of those relying on food banks are children.
• Canada’s child poverty rate of 15% is three times as high as the rates of Sweden, Norway, or Finland. In 2004, these countries put more than four times the percentage of their GDP into Early Learning and Child Care programs than did Canada.
• Quebec is the only province to see child poverty rates consistently decline since 1997 — attributable in part to rapid expansion of affordable Early Learning and Child Care programs. Anybody else notice a trend?

Defining child poverty?

Although there is no definitive definition in Canada, the Low Income Cut Offs (LICOs) published by Statistics Canada are generally used as Canada’s poverty lines describing persons or families living below these lines as living in “straitened circumstances,” or financial hardship. Using these figures, which can be found in the links section at the bottom of the page (“Poverty Lines”), the average two parent low income family would need an additional $10,400 per year just to bring them up to the poverty line. This is a number that has remained relatively consistent over the past 11 years.

So what needs to be done?

The Make Poverty History Campaign in Canada has put forth specific achievable demands stating that we could achieve the elimination of child poverty in Canada within five years if we were to:

1) expand affordable housing;
2) build a universally accessible child care system;
3) raise minimum wages and increase the availability of good jobs and living wages; and
4) increase the Child Tax Benefit to $4,900 per child, per year and ensure that all low income children receive the full benefit of this program.

These are discussed in further detail in the report linked at the bottom of the page entitled, “Pathways to Progress: Structural Solutions to Address Child Poverty” on pages 3-5.

What can you do?

Visit the Make Poverty History website to find out how you can get involved in helping end child poverty in Canada and join the over 230,000 others who have already committed to the campaign.

You could write a letter to your federal politician and tell him/her that you need to know what they are doing about child poverty.

You could get involved in the work of Campaign 2000 or that of their more than 120 national, community and provincial partners , or choose to make a donation to Campaign 2000 (tax receipts are issued for amounts over $10).

I would definitely recommend to start by reading the 2006 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada as it gives a great overview of the present situation that exists in Canada. I have included below further links to other articles and sites that I found very informing.

If you feel I have addressed something inaccurately or have a suggestion, please email me at oneweekjob@gmail.com

References and Further Links

2006 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada
by Campaign 2000

Poverty Lines — Before Tax Low Income Cut-Offs, 2005
by The Canadian Council on Social Development

We Can Make Child Poverty History in Canada
by Dennis Howlett

Pathways to Progress: Structural Solutions to Address Child Poverty
by Christa Freiler, Laurel Rothman, and Pedro Barata

Make Poverty History — Facts and Stats

Rethinking Child Poverty
by David P. Ross

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