This report calculates child poverty rates in Canada, and includes the rates on reserves and in territories—something never before examined. The report also disaggregates the statistics and identifies three tiers of poverty for children in Canada, finding the worst poverty experienced by status First Nation children (51%, rising to 60% for children on reserve).
Race and anti-racism
In Canada, the worst child poverty is experienced by status First Nations children—51% of whom live in poverty. And that number rises to 60% when it comes to First Nations children living on reserve. Unfortunately, the devastatingly high child poverty on First Nations reserves is getting worse, not better.
OTTAWA – Les enfants autochtones du Canada sont deux fois et demie plus susceptibles de vivre dans la pauvreté que les enfants non autochtones, a révélé une étude dévoilée aujourd’hui par le Centre canadien de politiques alternatives (CCPA).
L’étude a calculé les taux de pauvreté dans les réserves et les territoires – des données qui n’avaient jamais été examinées auparavant. Elle désagrège les statistiques sur la pauvreté chez les enfants et dégage, chez les enfants du Canada, trois niveaux de pauvreté :
OTTAWA—Indigenous children in Canada are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than non-Indigenous children, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The study calculates poverty rates on reserves and in the territories—something never before examined. It disaggregates child poverty statistics and identifies three tiers of poverty for children in Canada:
Winnipeg Free Press columnist Gordon Sinclair’s depiction of Wab Kinew is offensive with damaging implications that reach beyond the election (WFP March 12th and 26th, 2016).
Culture, acquired taste and past experience shape people’s food preferences (Adekunle et.al, 2010, 2011, and 2012) and their willingness to acculturate in a new country. As people are forced to migrate from Africa, South Asia and Middle East to Canada, there is a need to ensure that they are not worse off in their new country. This is necessary because the prevailing migration pattern causes some people to live with food insecurity.
The Catholic Church ran more than half of Canada’s residential schools. In these schools they immersed Indigenous children and youth in Catholic culture.
“The root causes of neglect—including poverty, poor housing, food insecurity, and substance abuse—lie beyond the scope of the child welfare system to resolve. But a collaborative approach, working with parents and harnessing the collective resources of child welfare and other provincial government departments, other levels of government, and the province’s many community-based organizations, can make a difference for vulnerable families.” Honourable Ted Hughes, 2014)
It has recently been claimed in the media that nothing is working in the fight against poverty.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ State of the Inner City Report 2015: Drawing on Our Strengths, shows that this is not the case. Important poverty-related indicators are improving. After decades of decline, public investment in community-led initiatives is making a difference
Poverty is deeply-rooted, spatially-concentrated, complex, often racialized, and not quickly solved. It damages, and in some cases ruins, the lives of those who it affects. We all pay the price for this. But is it true that nothing is working in the fight against poverty?