One in six kids still in poverty Canada 2000 wants social investment

Community Action, June 14, 2004

TORONTO -- "For almost 30 years, Canada has maintained an average poverty rate of one child in six. It is a constant pattern in the fabric of Canadian society," says Canada 2000's report, Pathways to Progress: Structural Solutions to Address Child Poverty." The tenacity of child poverty over the past 30 years shows that economic growth by itself is not enough to solve the problem.

"Canada's rate of 15.7% of all children puts this nation in the top five nations for child poverty with the U.S., Italy, U.K. and Australia."

The anti-poverty group calls for a comprehensive, multi-plan and firm funding commitments to deal with the situation. Canada 2000 proposes a Social Investment Plan for Children and Families aimed at reducing and preventing child poverty substantially.

The plan should

* provided good jobs at living wages, raise minimum wages and provide better protection through Employment Insurance;

* create an effective child benefit system to keep working parents out of poverty;

* build a universally accessible system of quality early childhood education and care to enable parents to work or receive training;

* expand affordable housing significantly;

* renew the national social safety net through the new Canada Social Transfer, with increased federal funding and improved accountability for provincially delivered social services, including social assistance.

The report points out that Canada's income security program spending has dropped from 16% of the GDP to below 12%, resulting in cutbacks and austerity measures that have affected most social programs.

The report was prepared by Christa Freiler, Laurel Rothman and Pedro Barata. It was funded by the Laidlaw Foundation.

Campaign 2000 has been monitoring progress on this important issue since Parliament passed an allparty resolution in 1989 to work to end child poverty.

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