British Columbia: 'The province that doesn't look after its kids'
The Province
September 12, 2010
By Sam Cooper

Contrary to British Columbia’s glossy marketing campaign, the province isn’t the best place on earth, at least if you happen to be a poor child. In fact, for seven years running, B.C. has had the highest child-poverty rate in Canada….

B.C.’s persistent failure to seriously address this crisis flies in the face of Premier Gordon Campbell’s assurance that children are his highest priority, critics say.

“We lead the pack in child poverty and we have a reputation as the province that doesn’t look after its kids,” says Michael McKnight, CEO of United Way of the Lower Mainland….

HELP leader Dr. Clyde Hertzman explains that vulnerable children come from all levels of society, but clearly, the poor are most in danger….

The stress of poverty filters straight into the flesh and bones of B.C.’s poorest children, who are most likely to be found in single-mother, aboriginal and new immigrant families, says Adrienne Montani of anti-poverty group First Call Coalition.

She says scientists have proved that the “chronic stress” of an impoverished household causes “poor health effects throughout life, with higher rates of heart disease, stroke and cancer, poor mental health, lower immune-system resiliency and higher rates of tooth cavities and Type 2 diabetes.

“If you’re under stress, how well can you go to school and concentrate?” Montani asks. “If you didn’t have enough space to study, or you didn’t have a good breakfast, those are all things that bring you to school less rested and less able.”

Researchers at HELP, including Hertzman and Prof. Paul Kershaw, have penned a report — called 15 by 15: A Comprehensive Policy Framework for Early Human Capital Investment in B.C. — which says any “developmentally vulnerable” rate above 10 per cent of children is “biologically unnecessary.”

The UBC scientists argue that B.C. is squandering the future economic potential of its youth. But with “smart family policy” investment in early learning infrastructure and the proper child and parental supports, at a cost of about $3 billion per year, the rate of children at risk of failure could be brought down to 15 per cent by 2015, and 10 per cent by 2020, they say.

Although the poor are most affected by vulnerability, Kershaw notes, the highest number of vulnerable children in Canada come from the biggest section of society, the middle class. This group is particularly hard-hit in B.C., Kershaw says, because no province is worse for work-life conflicts.

B.C. parents work longer to afford less in housing, and struggle because of a lack of childcare options and support, he says.

Kershaw’s economic plan is to fill in the support gap by increasing affordable daycare services, extending parental leave terms and redefining full-time work hours for parents with children over 18 months old. It’s also very important to increase welfare support for poor families, he says.

In its 2009 strategic plan, the B.C. government committed to lowering the provincial rate of early vulnerability to 15 per cent by 2015. Still, B.C.’s “efforts to address poverty are weak,” Kershaw says.

“We have the 15 by 15 commitment on the books, coming out of the premier’s office, but it hasn’t emerged to be a top priority,” he says.

He concedes the government’s move to roll out all-day kindergarten is “an important step” — but at a cost of about $120 million per year, new funds are just “one-tenth of the $1.5 billion per year HELP estimates needs to be spent” on early learning in B.C.

Premier Campbell said he wants to see some of the 15 by 15 recommendations funded, but the $3-billion figure cited by Kershaw “is some ways off.”….

McKnight believes the reason B.C. has a gap in support for young families is that governments are locked into a nearsighted four-year election cycle, ignoring long-range funding strategies in favour of short-term, politically motivated spending. Cutting into child poverty and early vulnerability problems demands an official poverty-reduction strategy and commitment to raising family incomes through living-wage (salaries adjusted to real cost of living) legislation, McKnight argues.

How did B.C. become Canada’s leader in child poverty? It depends who you ask….

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