Cité Libre: No progress on redressing child poverty in more than two decades

Eighteen years after the 1989 all-party resolution of the House of Commons to end child poverty in Canada the rate is exactly the same, says a new report from Campaign 2000. Despite a growing economy, a soaring dollar and low unemployment, Statistics Canada data shows the after-tax child poverty rate is 11.7%, exactly where it was when all federal parties decided action was urgently needed.

The 2007 National Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada shows that 788,000 children live in poverty in Canada. A startling 41% of low-income children live in families with at least one parent working full-time all year yet do not earn enough to lift their families out of poverty. The risk of living in poverty is not the same for all children. Poverty hits children in racially discriminated against, First Nations and recent immigrant communities much more often.

"The report is called It Takes a Nation to Raise a Generation because we are calling on the federal government to step up to the plate with a comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategy," said Ann Decter, National Coordinator of Campaign 2000, releasing the document in Ottawa today. "The federal government has the fiscal resources if they don't give them away in general, across the board tax cuts."

"Canadians have been polled and they've said clearly: Close the poverty gap, that's the country we want to live in. That's what we expect of our federal government. I want to know my daughter's classmates have enough to eat, every day. I want to know that no child will go homeless in Canada this winter. I want to see all First Nations children living safely beyond the entrapping cycle of poverty," said Ms. Decter. "That's what poverty reduction means."

Ms. Decter pointed to polling that shows 85% of Canadians believe that if the government takes concrete action, poverty in Canada could be drastically reduced.

"Teachers know what poverty looks like," commented Emily Noble, President of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, "they see children who are too hungry to settle down and learn, children who are living in homeless shelters, children who carry a burden of worry for their families. The Canadian Teachers' Federation joins the call for political commitment to a national Poverty Reduction Strategy for Canada. Parents should be able to provide an adequate living standard for their children - working together, governments can ensure that is possible."

"Support for poverty reduction is growing across the country," Ms. Decter added. "Four provincial governments either have strategies in place or have committed to develop them. The federal Liberal Party has announced bold targets. Premiers of different political stripes are committing to comprehensive, long-term plans. The federal government can play a crucial role through a national Poverty Reduction Strategy."

The report provides evidence that federal programs already in place can reduce poverty, and calls for more to be done. "We're calling on the federal government to support poverty reduction by increasing the Canada Child Tax Benefit, increasing federal work tax credits, investing broadly in child care and affordable housing and supporting a targeted plan to address Aboriginal poverty," said Dr. Adje Van de Sande of Carleton University.

"Federal savings from lower debt charges should be invested in poverty reduction," said Ms. Decter. "Let's not just get Canada out of debt, let's get poverty out of Canada. That's the vision of a great nation."

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