[Wamvan] Fwd: BC remains worst in Canada for child poverty

[Tami Starlight]

BC remains worst in Canada for child poverty
By Ainslie Cruickshank June 15, 2011

 The organization First Call is drawing attention to figures released today
that they say show British Columbia has the worst child poverty rate in
Canada for the eighth year in a row.

According to Statistics Canada data on
incomes**<http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/110615/dq110615b-eng.htm>the
province’s child poverty rate rose to 12 per cent in 2009, coming in
higher than all other provincial and territorial rates as well as the
national average of 9.5 per cent.

B.C.’s overall poverty rate also rose to 12 per cent and was the highest
among the provinces for the eleventh year in row. The number of poor people
living in B.C. rose from 494,000 in 2008 to 528,000 in 2009. Of the 2009
stats, 100,000 were children.

Adrienne Montani, First Call’s provincial coordinator for B.C. says “low
wages and inadequate work” are to blame for B.C.’s poverty record. First
Call is a non-partisan coalition of B.C. organizations and individuals that
works to promote children’s rights and improve the well-being of BC’s
children and youth.

But it’s a complex issue and there are a lot of factors to consider, she
said. “Having things like child care be astronomically expensive means
sometimes that . . . a second earner can’t go to work,” she said. “It seems
a lot of families, in order to afford what they need to afford, have to have
two earners.”

One quick fix would be for the federal government to increase the child tax
benefit to at least $5,400 a year per child, she said. Currently the maximum
benefit available for families with incomes below $24,183 is $3,485 per year
for the first child, for subsequent children the benefit is slightly lower.

Another area that could be improved is post-secondary education, said
Montani. “We aren’t supporting young people to be able to get good paying
jobs in the workforce because they’re not able to afford post-secondary
education."

B.C. needs an anti-poverty plan, she said. “We’d love to see a non-partisan
effort on this because it is a long standing issue," she said. "For the last
decade we’ve been the worst in the country . . . It’s time for a cross
government plan that says we’re going to tackle this and we’re going to
bring it down.”

The New Democratic Party has proposed adopting such a plan. “Seven other
provinces in the country of all political stripes have put strategies and
clear plans in place, British Columbia has not done that, we’re falling way
behind,” said housing and social development critic Shane Simpson.

On June 2, the NDP introduced Bill
M216**<http://www.leg.bc.ca/39th3rd/1st_read/m216-1.htm>,
or the Poverty Reduction Act, as a private member’s bill. If passed, the act
would be developed after broad consultation and annual progress reports
would submitted to the legislature, Simpson said. “We need a real plan, with
real teeth, that’s comprehensive, to deal with an issue that’s this
complex."

A spokesperson for the ministry of children and family development, Shae
Greenfield said in an email the numbers from Statistics Canada reflect the
difficult time British Columbia endured during the economic downturn. He
also said some recent actions taken by the government to help low-income
families weren’t reflected in the 2009 stats, including the increase in
minimum wage.

But Montani said even though the data stem from the middle of the downturn,
the problems are real.

“We know those are 2009 data and we expected them to get worse because that
was the heart of the recession but if you look back over the last several
decades this has been a consistent problem, we’ve never gotten below 10 per
cent in B.C. for our child poverty rate so there really needs some
concerted, focused effort,” she said.

A poverty reduction strategy seems unlikely to come from the government
anytime soon, however.

“Putting a label on it doesn’t guarantee success,” said ministry
spokesperson Greenfield. “Actions are what make a real difference for
families and our efforts to strengthen the economy and create jobs while
providing targeted supports to low income families are working.”
*Ainslie Cruickshank is completing a practicum at The Tyee*



-- 
Meegwetch/Thank you/Merci
*Tami M. Starlight*
Vancouver, Canada
tamistarlight at gmail.com
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604-200-2445home
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