BC child poverty rates worst in the land
By Bernice Trick
Prince George Citizen
24 November 2009

B.C. continues to be the worst province for child poverty, according to the 2009 Child Poverty Report Card released today.

The 2009 report card, provided by First Call, the BC partner in Campaign 2000, uses statistics from 2007 which show B.C. had 18.8 per cent of its children living in poverty. It was significantly higher than the Canadian average of 15 per cent at that time.

Stats show that B.C. had a total of 156,000 poor children, which is equivalent to the entire population of Prince George and Nanaimo, combined, and that was a year of a strong economy. said Julie Norton, First Call chair…..

The key findings from 2007 statistics about child poverty in B.C. are:

• Although the risk of poverty is three times greater among single-mother families, the majority , or 51.6 per cent, live in two-parent families.
• On average, poor single-mother families lived $12,600 below the poverty line while poor two-parent families were $8,200 below the poverty line.
• A total of 55 per cent of the poor children had been poor for at least four out of six years. Those children lived in families where at least one member had a full-time job.
• Poor families keep getting poorer. Statistics showed that families, with children, who fell into the five lowest income groups made no significant gains in their incomes between 1989 and 2007, and two income groups experienced a significant decline in their income.

Norton's group has been pushing the B.C. government for a number of years, recommending higher child benefits, increase to the minimum wage and welfare rates, commitment to pay living wages, increased access to quality child care, and new housing programs for people with low incomes.

The hope is that poverty rates can be cut in half by 2017.

The poverty statistics are based on Statistics Canada's cut-off 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.

For all persons -- families and individuals -- the poverty rate in B.C. fell from 13 per cent in 2006 (546,000) to 11.1 per cent (474,000) in 2007, but the overall poverty rate was still the worst in any province.