One in Three Manitoba Children Living in Poverty

It says the Province has the highest child poverty rate compared to the rest of the provinces at 29%.

More needs to be done to help B.C. children living in poverty, the provincial coordinator for First Call, Adrienne Montani, said Tuesday at a news conference.

A child poverty report card says an increasing number of children live in poverty in Canada, but no where is the problem more desperate than in Manitoba. However, children in rural regions are in trouble too.

The report says nearly one in five children across the country lives below the poverty line.

Single-parent families are also at a much greater risk of poverty, with 50.3 per cent of children from those families living in poverty, while only 13 per cent of children from two-parent families live in poverty, the report says.

“The data in this report is evidence of a continuing child poverty crisis that reaches into every corner of the province”, said Cheryl Mixon, who chairs the First Call Coalition, which released the report card.

“[The change] is so minute it’s hard to measure”.

“Poverty robs children of their potential”, said Michael McKnight, CEO of the United Way of the Lower Mainland.

That’s a full 10 per cent above the national rate.

Poverty rates for young children under 6 were higher than overall child poverty rates in 22 out of 24 urban areas outside of Metro Vancouver, some as high as 37% (Port Alberni and Duncan).

“It is vitally important that Canada seize the opportunity to lay out a solid framework to eradicate poverty”, added Dr. Sid Frankel, professor of social work at the University of Manitoba.

In particular, certain sections of the populations had higher poverty rates than others, including Aboriginal children, children of recent immigrants, children of single mothers, children in visible minority families, and children with disabilities.