Nearly 20 per cent of British Columbia children under the age of six live in poverty, according to an annual report released yesterday by First Call B.C.
One in seven children or about 121,000 kids in British Columbia were found to be living in poverty in 2008.
The poverty rate among B.C. children below the age of six during that year was 19.6 percent. This means that one in five in this age category didn’t have enough to lead decent lives.
“We have an ongoing child-poverty problem in B.C. that’s probably going to go up because we’re using 2008 data (taken before the recession),” said Adrienne Montani, spokesperson for the B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition
Montani said B.C. has had the worst child poverty rate in the country for seven years in a row, when looking at parents’ after-tax income.
“There are solutions,” she said, adding the government needs to raise minimum wage, increase welfare rates and create affordable childcare.
Children living in poverty, even those with loving, involved parents, ften fall behind in school, grow up without proper nutrition and develop self-esteem issues.
“We’re saying, in effect, some people (don’t matter) and we’re entrenching inequality, and that’s not the kind of society we want,” Montani said.
Carole James, leader of the B.C. NDP, called the report “shameful,” given the wealth of the province.
“It’s only through addressing the root causes of poverty that we’ll be able to meaningfully address this record,” she said.
Photo: CTV