In 1989, the Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution to eradicate child poverty in Canada by the millennium.
The child poverty rate 25 years ago was 13.7 per cent in Ontario. According to the latest report by Campaign Ontario 2000, one in seven or 13.8 per cent of children were living in poverty in 2011.
Campaign Ontario 2000’s reports are based off of the most recent data from Statistics Canada.
Laurel Rothman is the National Coordinator for Campaign 2000. The organization started in 1991 out of concern for the lack of government action in the fight to end child poverty.
She says there are many factors in our current society, which cause more families to stay poor.
“The public policy network is weaker and the labour market is less resilient and provides fewer options than previous years,” Rothman says. “The costs of food have become higher, making it difficult for any family to keep their head out of water.”
Rothman says that since the 2008 recession, Canada has a higher number of unstable job positions.
In the report, Ontario’s 534,000 minimum wage workers have faced a $10.25/hour wage freeze since 2010.
Low wages for full-time, part-time, and contract workers is just a portion of the problem.
“Since the mid 1990’s, the other thing that’s happened is that social welfare programs once delivered by the provinces, have all been stripped and cut back,” Rothman says.
While child poverty rates continue to increase in Ontario, Rothman says there have been a few improvements since the government’s 1989 pledge.
“The National Child Benefit has increased six or seven times since it’s inception in 1998,” Rothman says.
Social welfare and child advocacy groups have argued that families are more financially secure when supported by social assistance programs, as opposed to working at low-paying jobs. The program was launched by the federal government and it was intended to provide financial support to low-income families with children.
“The maximum NCB annual payment for the first child is now $3, 654,” Rothman says.
Terry Meehan is a mother of three and loyal advocate for the poor. She has been living on disability pension for over 20 years.
In 1989, Meehan had her second child. Not only was this challenging for a single parent trying to raise a toddler on a fixed income, but this was also Meehan’s second child with a mental disability. She would ultimately end up with three children, all of whom have special needs.
Meehan says her neighbors would often criticize her for being unemployed and living on social assistance.
“If I got something new they would say ‘you bought that with my tax money,’” Meehan says. “I lived in a town house and people would watch things going in and out like a fish bowl.”
She doesn’t think much has changed from the original proposal to eradicate child poverty and sees problems with Canada’s unemployment insurance programs.
If there had been significant improvements made over the past 25 years, Meehan knows her life would be different.
“For one thing, I may not have lost custody of my two youngest children,” Meehan says. “I would be able to afford the basics, and not have to decide which ball to drop.”
Going forward, Rothman says the federal government must instill a national anti-poverty strategy with defined goals and strict deadlines. She also believes there should be increased support for Aboriginal families living in poverty.
Clara Jimeno, the research director at the Social Planning Council of Ottawa, agrees with Rothman.
“In 2006, almost 40 per cent of children from minority groups were living in poverty across Canada. This is a problem for marginalized communities,” Jimeno says.
Jimeno says government action should include increasing wages, improving labour market conditions, and developing a national housing strategy to reduce housing costs.
One of the main recommendations in Campaign 2000’s report is a reduction of child poverty by 50 per cent at the end of the next Poverty Reduction Strategy in 2018.
Campaign Ontario 2000 2013 (Text)
This first report used in this article is titled Beyond Austerity: Investing in Ontario’s Future. It’s the 2013 annual report on child and family poverty written by Campaign Ontario 2000. I found it on the organization’s website when I was looking for sources to contact. Campaign 2000 collects its data from Statistics Canada. Next to this report, are links to reports from previous years and other poverty strategies. This documentation was helpful as it provided me with a number of useful statistics about poverty rates, low-income families, and poverty in marginalized communities. It also gave me insight into future plans for reducing poverty in Ontario in the upcoming years.
Library of Parliament (Text)
The second document used during the research process is an issue analysis from the Library of Parliament. The report falls under the Social Affairs and Population Publication and is based on Child Poverty in Canada. I found this document on the Internet, using a simple Google search. This documentation was helpful because it gave me insight into the background of the National Child Benefit program and how it functions in Canadian society. It also gave me a brief history of the original resolution proposed by the House of Commons in 1989. While the information in this document is representative Canada’s national landscape, it applies to Ontario-based child poverty reduction strategies as well.