BC Campaign 2000: 2009 Child Poverty Report Card

THE IMPORTANCE OF ACTION ON CHILD POVERTY

November 24, 2009

It’s been twenty years since the House of Commons committed to ending poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000. As a nation, we are still far from that objective. In British Columbia, a wealthy province, our child poverty rates have been higher than the national average since 1999 and the highest of any province for six years in a row.The Canadian and international research evidence about why we should care about poverty is overwhelming.1 The BC Healthy Living Alliance, a group that includes some of the province’s leading health experts, notes “The lack of resources and choices as well as social exclusion and stress created by poverty make it one of the most significant contributors to ill health. … [C]hildhood poverty has been shown to have a negative effect on social and health outcomes that lasts across the life course.”2

A chorus of other authoritative voices from across Canada and BC have recognized the importance of taking action to reduce child and family poverty:

• Six provincial governments – Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba – have committed themselves to poverty reduction plans for their own jurisdictions.
• In addition to the 92 partner organizations in the First Call coalition, more than 200 organizations in the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition have signed on to a call for a comprehensive, legislated poverty reduction plan for BC.3
• Premier Campbell’s BC Progress Board has argued, “All children, irrespective of their social background, should have an equal chance to succeed in the province, and there is compelling evidence that children from low income families are at greater risk.”4

The information in this report serves as a reminder that child poverty is family poverty, that a large number of low income families are being left behind even during the good economic times, and that BC could be doing much more to reduce this inequality.

There are many public policy options available to help us reduce the child poverty rate in our province. Some options include higher child benefits, increases in the minimum wage and welfare rates, commitments to paying living wages, increased access to high quality child care and new housing programs for persons in need. These policy options are outlined in Fact Sheet 9 in this report.

There is a significant opportunity for investing in the current and future health and well being of British Columbians. We have failed a generation of children affected by poverty by our failure to keep the promise made in 1989. Now is the time for British Columbia to make the necessary commitment to a provincial poverty reduction plan with clearly defined targets and timelines.

Download full report BC Campaign 2000: 2009 Child Poverty Report Card