Too high for her; Child representative dismayed at B.C. child poverty
Prince George Citizen
June 12 2009
By: Bernice Trick

For the sixth year in a row B.C. has had the highest rate of child poverty in Canada -- a fact that greatly bothers the province's child and youth representative.

"Here we are in 2009 in which we've had a dramatic turn of events from 2007 when we did have a bit of a dip in the rates," said Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.

"We can safely assume the child vulnerability situation has worsened in the last six months based on the unemployment rates, those on unemployment with children and the poverty roles. There's been a spike that goes with the recession, the collapse of the lumber industry and the slowdown of construction coupled with the cost of living, which has not declined."

Turpel-Lafond was reacting to the recent release from Statistics Canada that shows in 2007 B.C. was significantly higher than the national average child poverty rate of 9.5 per cent.

"Even with the latest drop, B.C. has had the worst child poverty record of any province for six consecutive years since 2002 through 2007," said Julie Norton, chairwoman of the First Call: B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, which did an analysis of the report.

The poverty statistics are based on StatsCan's cutoff figure for low family income after any benefits received and income taxes paid. That poverty line for a family of four living in cities was $33,946 in 2007.

Norton's group has been pushing the B.C. government to bring in legislation committed to cut poverty rates in half by 2017, recommending reasonable rates of social assistance, accessible child care, more social housing and a higher minimum wage from today's $8 per hour.

Turpel-Lafond said, "The minimum wage rate is a huge factor, but even if both parents are working and making $40,000 a year, but more than 70 per cent of that income goes to housing clothing and food, they are still poor.

"In B.C. the cost of living is high, and the North has special pressures like heating in winter and costs to freight goods. The big thing from my side is to look at how the kids are doing, are the food banks doing okay; is there short-term accommodation for those losing their homes, do they have supplies and clothing needed to go to school and be able to learn."

She said the buffer between short- and long-term poverty are the front-line charities, "which are crucial", along with the child welfare system.

"If we see the charities like food banks, hot lunches and emergency shelter declining, we have to be very worried," said Turpel-Lafond….

Among the solutions she sees is to establish a child-poverty plan such as is being done in Ontario, despite the outstanding loss of jobs there.

"In May, all parties in Ontario passed a child-poverty reduction act that sets some targets that integrates support services across ministries, enhances social services and has better co-ordination to address the poverty issue."

She said what she observes in Ontario "is impressive" and something that should be considered in B.C. "We need to get a plan, have some targets and align services."

Turpel-Lafond says she is "personally committed" to changing the system and past conflicts in B.C. by bringing the government, opposition and her office together.

"Despite the economy and hard times, we still need to take care of our children. Extreme circumstances sometimes call for extreme measures. Maybe during the summer, we should be opening the schools a couple of days a week to feed the children hot lunches."

In the North, Turpel-Lafond suspects changes are being made in the child welfare system that will make things more difficult for front-line workers who deal directly with the families.

"My northern advocates say front line workers will need to get more approval from team leaders, management and other officials for such matters as issuing bus passes and drug testing - because it's expensive - instead of the social workers doing it. These funding restrictions require more time to get somebody to sign off, and will affect what the workers can do. This is something we'll need to pay close attention to. How the practice works and support for the front lines is essential during these tough times. We certainly shouldn't be cutting the front line, but beefing it up instead."…