2015 Report Cards on Child and Family Poverty in Canada: Let’s End Child Poverty for Good.

Posted on November 24, 2015 in Social Security Policy Context

Campaign2000.ca – Current Issues
November 24, 2015.

The 2015 report card, entitled Let’s Do This: Let’s End Child Poverty for Good outlines the once in a generation opportunity before Canada to eradicate child and family poverty. With the federal government committed to collaboratively developing a national poverty reduction strategy, Canada must seize the opportunity to finally end the child poverty crisis for good.

http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/2015RepCards/NationalReportCardEn2015.pdf  or

http://makepovertyhistory.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8c011a1bf1632a93780e18e39&id=e9c9d7c471&e=2b012dbd4a

The report card offers practical policy recommendations to all political parties to redress the persistence of child poverty in Canada. Campaign 2000 presents the latest statistics on child and family poverty and outlines how it impacts on multiple dimensions of children’s lives – including health, mental health, educational achievement and future employment opportunities.

Several Campaign 2000 partners’ are also releasing their provincial report cards on child and family poverty on November 24th, with media events planned in Vancouver, British Columbia; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Charlottetown, PEI. Please click on the following links for all report cards:

Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada, 2015 in English and French: http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/2015RepCards/NationalReportCardEn2015.pdf

Check out our Infographic & share it & follow us on Twitter: @Campaign2000. Use the hash tags #LetsDoThis and #EndChildPoverty and #cdnpoli when you tweet: http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/2015RepCards/Infograph2015.png

Manitoba Report Card on Child and Family Poverty, 2015: http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/2015RepCards/Manitoba2015RepCard.pdf

Nova Scotia 2015 Report Card: End it Now: http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/2015RepCards/NovaScoatia2015RepCard.pdf

Click to read our media releases, in either English or French:  http://campaign2000.ca/reportCards/2015RepCards/MediaReleaseEnNov24_2015.pdf  or
http://campaign2000.ca/reportCards/2015RepCards/MediaReleaseFRNov24_2015.pdf

Take action via Make Poverty History to contact Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today! Send a copy of our letter with urgent actions to the Prime Minister today.

< http://www.campaign2000.ca >
___________________________

MEDIA RELEASE

END CHILD AND FAMILY POVERTY IN CANADA

Let’s End Child Poverty for Good

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

TORONTO – Canada has a once in a generation opportunity to end child and family poverty. With the federal government committed to creating a national poverty reduction strategy for the first time, we must take the long overdue actions necessary to end child poverty for good, says Anita Khanna, National Coordinator for Campaign 2000.

“Federal politicians committed to eliminate child poverty in Canada in 1989, 2009 and 2015. Unfortunately, the necessary action plans never materialized and 1.34 million children, almost 1 in 5, are in poverty today. With the federal government ready to tackle poverty, Canada must craft a strong plan that meets the needs of its most vulnerable citizens. Therefore Campaign 2000 calls on the federal government to ensure the design of the new Canada Child Benefit reduces child poverty by 50% in five years,” says Khanna.

“It is vitally important that Canada seize the opportunity to lay out a solid framework to eradicate poverty,” said Dr. Sid Frankel, Professor of Social Work at University of Manitoba. “This framework must be developed collaboratively with provincial and territorial governments, Aboriginal governments and organizations, non-governmental organizations and people living in poverty. It must include poverty reduction targets as well as clear timelines for government to remain accountable for progress. In addition, the commitment to poverty reduction must be secured in legislation.”

The 2015 Campaign 2000 report card, Let’s Do This: Let’s End Child Poverty for Good, chronicles the state of child poverty in Canada and offers solutions that the federal government can adopt to reduce and eradicate it immediately. Recommendations address precarious employment, gaps in the social safety net, housing, income inequality, and early childhood education and care (ECEC), long a fundamental piece of Campaign 2000’s child poverty eradication agenda.

“Critical to a plan to eradicate child poverty, a national childcare program is long overdue. It should be based on a well-developed policy framework that starts with principles of universality, high quality and comprehensiveness and sets out clear goals, targets and timelines,” says Martha Friendly, Executive Director of Childcare Resource and Research Unit.

A climate of renewed hope and optimism provides Canada with an important opportunity to close the book on its failure to eliminate child poverty. “With decades of research and evidence to guide us, we need to muster the resolve to end child and family poverty for good. Let’s do this, and let’s do this right,” says Khanna.

Campaign 2000 is a non-partisan, cross-Canada network of 120 national, provincial and community partner organizations committed to working to end child and family poverty. For Campaign 2000’s 2015 report cards, visit http://www.campaign2000.ca

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National Report Card contacts (English & French):
Anita Khanna, Campaign 2000: 416-788-3439 or 416-595-9230 x250.
Sid Frankel, University of Manitoba: 204-295-3749.
Martha Friendly, Childcare Resource and Research Unit: 416 926 9264.
Hélène C. Ménard, Centre d’éducation financière EBO: 613-746-0400, poste: 204. Liyu Guo, Campaign 2000: 416-624-1885.

Provincial Report Card contacts:
British Columbia – First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition – Adrienne Montani 604-709-6962
Manitoba – Chris Albi, Winnipeg Harvest, 204-982-3584
Nova Scotia – Mary-Dan Johnston, CCPA N.S. Office, 902-412-5780 or marydan@policyalternatives.ca
Prince Edward Island – Mary Boyd, PEI Coalition for a Poverty Eradication Strategy & MacKillop Centre for Social Justice, 902-892-9074 or 902-388-2693 (cell)

BACKGROUNDER:
Key Findings from the 2015 National Report Card, Let’s Do This: Let’s End Child Poverty for Good:

  • Child poverty has increased since 1989: from 15.8% to 19% today; 40% of Indigenous children live in poverty.
  • 37% of children in poverty reside in households with full time, full year employment.
  • Canada needs a good jobs strategy and decent wages: over 2 million workers stuck in temporary employment.
  • Canada still needs a national childcare program. There are only enough regulated child care spaces to cover 25% of childrenaged 0 – 12 years.
  • Poverty affects people differently: Children in racialized, recent immigrant and Indigenous families as well as children withdisabilities are at greater risk of living in poverty, leading to persistent social and economic inequality.
  • 1 million children experience food insecurity, lacking reliable access to adequate, safe, good-quality, nutritious food.
  • Government transfers prevent poverty: 705,000 additional children would live in poverty without transfers.  However, Canada’s system of transfers is not as effective as those of other OECD nations.
  • One in seven of those in homelessness shelters are children.  Living in inadequate, crowded and unaffordable housing is associated with higher vulnerability to asthma and injury, an accelerated spread of communicable diseases, anxiety and insomnia, less physical exercise and diminished school performance

< http://www.campaign2000.ca/reportCards/2015RepCards/MediaReleaseEnNov24_2015.pdf >

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2 Responses to “2015 Report Cards on Child and Family Poverty in Canada: Let’s End Child Poverty for Good.”

  1. Caitlin says:

    I completely agree with this article. The federal government needs to devise an action plan to abolish poverty in Canada. We are a developed country that needs to take more responsibilities for the needs of its citizens. However, I have a difficult time believing that the government will complete this task. Firstly, Campaign 2000, which is a campaign to end child poverty by the year 2000, began in 1991. It has been 24 years since the beginning of this goal and they have made very little progress. Secondly, I don’t think they will want to completely abolish poverty because then who will work the minimum wage jobs? We need those jobs to be filled to keep our society operating. Lastly, the government would have to create better social services to abolish poverty, which Canada has made cuts to many social services in the recent past. It would cost Canada a large amount of money to eliminate poverty but are they willing to pay the price? I don’t think poverty in Canada will ever be eliminated but with the recent changes in our federal government there might be hope.

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