Is poverty inevitable for Canada's Indigenous children?

The statistics are staggering. According to a new report from Save the Children Canada and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the poverty rate for children in Canada is 17%. "Despite repeated promises from federal and provincial governments to address the issue — including a 1989 commitment by all Parliamentarians to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000 — Canada ranks 25th among the 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development with regard to child poverty." Among immigrant, racialized and Indigenous communities the child poverty rate even higher than the Canadian average. In particular, 50% (HALF!) of status First Nations children live in poverty. This is unacceptable. Poverty is not simply something that happens in far away countries, it is happening here at home in Canada.Take a look at this map, which breaks it down by province for some of the major provinces in Canada.

Or you can look at it this way:

According to the report, the provincial government in Canada is responsible for providing social services to everyone except for status First Nations people living on reserves. "For status First Nations children living on reserves, the federal government is responsible for funding social services, health care, education and income supports. Transfer payments for these social services on reserve have increased by a mere 2% per year since 1996, unadjusted for population growth or need." It is no wonder, when looking at those figures, that the situation for children and families in First Nations communities is deteriorating. Obviously, the 1989 commitment means nothing to the current government or to the others that came in the time since 1989.

So what needs to change? According to the report, it breaks down like this:

To bring all children in Canada up to the poverty line would cost $7.5 billion, $1 billion of which is required for Indigenous children. Of that, $580 million would be required to lift status First Nations children to the poverty line, which equates to 11% of the budget of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern
Development Canada for the comparable year.

....

Poverty is not solely a question of income levels. Status First Nations children, in addition to a higher poverty rate, often live in communities that are without comparison in Canada when it comes to the impoverishment of services and infrastructure. This has as deep an affect on the lives of these children as the amount of money their parents earn.

I did the math. The required investment amounts to $217 per Canadian to bring all children in Canada up to the poverty line, or $29 per Canadian for Indigenous children, or just $16 per Canadian for status First Nations children. In addition to poverty not just being about income levels, helping out isn't just about handing out taxpayer dollars. Specifically, a Centre for the Study of Living Standard report found that  there is a projected $115 billion cumulative economic benefit to Canada over twenty years from equivalent educational attainment and labour market outcomes for Indigenous people. Individual children and families benefit, and our economy does too. 

Our country needs to start making smart investments in sustainable solutions that will help to bring children out of poverty. The old ways of doing things and the dismal financial contributions are not working. Attawapiskat has shown us that and the figures in this report show us that much more. There are many more Attawapiskats out there. We haven't seen the beginning or the end of this problem yet.

What can you do? As the next election approaches (it is coming sooner than you think -- just a year and a bit until we mark our X), ask the political parties what they are doing. Read their platforms, read their policies, look for real commitment. In the meantime, you can support the work being done by Save the Children Canada in Canada's Indigenous communities and also, in particular, help with their emergency flood relief in the hard hit Alberta communities, where they are creating a child-friendly space in the Siksika First Nation reserve, one of the hardest hit communities. Poverty doesn't have to be inevitable if we take action now and demand better.

Comments

[Barbados Lass]

Good blog. Very sad statistics to read re: increasing child poverty in Canada. We all need to do better for children and young people.
They are Canada's long term future.
Reducing housing costs for families would be a good start. I hope things start to improve over the next years, truly I do.