Civil society groups campaign to stem Canada’s child poverty
By KEVIN SPURGAITIS
Empty promises make empty stomachs, they say.
In an all-party resolution by the House of Commons in November 1989, MPs pledged the elimination of poverty among Canadian children by 2000. Nonetheless, child poverty has grown up since 1989, much to the chagrin of the Campaign Against Child Poverty (CACP). The national, non-partisan coalition of faith leaders, social justice groups, charities and child-welfare organizations, imagines the poverty-free country promised by Parliament in the late 1980s. Funded by private citizens across Canada, foundations, faith communities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), CACP opposes the country’s current levels of child and family poverty. It is concerned about the future educational, social, physical and employment success of children currently living in poor conditions — sometimes in squalor.
In the past five years, CACP has printed open letters to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, in major Canadian newspapers, urging recommitment to the issue. They have met with two finance ministers, recommending policies and setting new target dates by which to reduce Canada’s child poverty rate. Some of its 400 faith leaders in the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu communities, have also appealed to members of their congregations to donate a portion of their tax reduction to a children’s charity.
According to Statistics Canada’s findings in 2000, one out of every six children, or 16.5 per cent, live in poverty. After a 39 per cent rate increase between 1989 and 1999, more than a million children now subsist below Canada’s unofficial poverty line or “low-income cut-off,” which is based on income and expenditure surveys. Forty per cent of all food bank users — an estimated 305,000 — are children, who are also the fastest growing population requiring emergency shelter. According to an Ipsos-Reid poll presented by CACP, the majority of Canadians feel child poverty is the second highest government spending priority after health care.
“We must be more passionate about the most vulnerable in our society today,” says Paul Hansen CSsR, representative for the Canadian Religious Conference. Hansen says: “We should, at least, care for the little ones. It was important that churches take a formal stand. Prayer is not enough; in the upcoming election, we have to hold the politicians’ feet to the fire on this … This issue has to be front and centre.” Faith leaders have been encouraged to get the message out to their churches, synagogues, temples and mosques. This passion, this concern about child poverty, he says, “crosses all religious sensitivities.”
Child poverty transcends borders
Javed Akbar, Director of Outreach at the Pickering Islamic Centre, agrees. “Our neighbours, whatever background, cannot go hungry. The child poverty issue transcends borders and brings major faith groups together.” Luxury SUV purchases, for example, have replaced private charity, according to Akbar, who says people ought to peer inside themselves and ask themselves why there is a great economic disparity in society. He labours under the notion that a sound social system is the “bedrock” of a kinder, gentler society. “Canada has enjoyed years of prosperity, but the persistence of child poverty has undermined our values. The country is a richly blessed one, yet opportunity is not equal among everyone.”
CACP joined Campaign 2000 in their cross-Canada movement to increase awareness and support for the House of Commons 1989 resolution. An additional 400,000 children have been classified as under-privileged since that pledge. Alarmed by the “increasing hardship of families,” Canada 2000 has urged elected officials to keep their promise to the nation’s children. Since 1991, report cards on the status of child poverty have been issued by this broad coalition of faith leaders, housing and health-care and child-care providers, teachers, social workers, trade unionists, women’s group members, social planners and parents.
The issue of child poverty contravenes the country’s social policy, according Laurel Rothman, the National Coordinator of Campaign 2000. Rothman says: “Children and their families living in impoverished situations, albeit in North American terms and not Central African, are skipping meals each month to make sure they can balance their books at the end of the month. These are situations that are in conflict with Canadian values of fairness and equity.”
Canada contributes to world poverty
In a 2000 report published by the UN’s Children’s Fund, Canada was listed among 23 of the wealthiest countries accounting for more than 47 million impoverished children. It recorded one of the lowest percentages of public dollars spent on social programs. Economists not only attribute the problem to cuts in employment insurance, welfare and social-housing programs, but to corporate downsizing, the progression of part-time and casual employment and the decline of stable positions. Other theories link globalization and advanced technologies that have rendered some members of the domestic labour force obsolete. Whatever the causes, many more parents struggle to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter and the goods and services needed to increase their children’s opportunities in life, anti-poverty groups say.
The gap between the rich and poor is even wider in 2003. Canada’s wealthiest elite is making greater strides, the 2001 census indicates, while lower-income earners inch their way closer to the poverty line. The Canadian Association of Food Banks reports the number of food bank users shot up by 92 per cent over the past decade, partly as a result of the swelling of child poverty. In place now is the Canada Child Tax Benefit, a tax-free, monthly payment made to eligible families raising children under age 18.
In 1998, federal, provincial and territorial governments also launched the National Child Benefit (NCB), which includes a First Nations component. The NCB aims to prevent and reduce the depth of child poverty in Canada, ensuring that families are better off, something critics say has had moderate success. Another central cornerstone expected to reduce poverty, is the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) service. ECEC supports the social needs of families and promotes equal opportunities for women in the workforce. In addition, the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) forms the largest federal transfer program to the provinces and territories. However, Canada’s ECEC programs fall far short in meeting the requirements of families and children, according to CACP. And although the federal government transfers provide an ongoing contribution to quality services, the CHST is a so-called block fund arbitrarily spent by provinces and territories. Monies do not always get to those who need it most.
In his Throne Speech in October 2002, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien affirmed his government “must put Canada’s families and children first.” In order to enable Canada to turn the corner on child poverty, he said, the cycle of families’ dependency must be broken. CACP has been somewhat placated by the Federal Government’s recent fulfillment of some of its promises. The Federal Budget, announced in February, includes a series of long-term investments that address child poverty, such as increasing the National Child Benefit to 965 million by 2007 and funding regulated child care in provinces, territories and First Nations. In addition, the government promised $680 million for affordable housing over five years, and the extension of homelessness programs. However, CACP’s fight continues. The organization plans to continue its partnerships, monitoring commitments contained within the Budget. The five “benchmarks” developed by CACP and presented to ministers include: a Social Investment Fund for Children; a Comprehensive Child Benefit System including support for low and modest-income earners reliant on social assistance; a comprehensive system of early childhood development services, including affordable, high-quality child care; increased affordable housing; the restoration of federal transfer payments to at least their former levels; and the establishment of mechanisms holding provinces accountable for federal funds received for social welfare and post secondary education.
Members have also endorsed a new public newspaper message to Ontario party leaders, which will coincide with the next provincial election. They blame the province’s Conservative government for undermining the national agenda. By clawing back the National Child Benefit from welfare cheques, refusing to spend Ottawa’s early-childhood development funds on regulated child care system or match federal dollars on affordable housing, Ontario Tories have done little to curb child poverty, CACP argues. And it says much revered tax cuts have only exasperated the issue in the province. It will cost an estimated $11.8 billion to elevate Canada’s children out of poverty. Although critics charge that cash allocated to boost the income of poorer families is often spent on “non-essentials,” CACP maintains a hefty system of social and income supports is vital to strengthening Canadian families. It adds that no child should be a casualty of indifference — neither in good times or bad.
“The Canadian Just Society we tried under former governments like Trudeau’s has diminished … There’s the harshness and hardness that’s developing among us. We’re a much colder society now,” says Hansen. He maintains a child’s welfare is a human right that has to be paid.
“There’s a large sector of the body politic that loves the cutbacks in taxation. However, taxes pay for their participation in the common good.”
Originally published in the Catholic New Times, June 2003
