When MP James Moore told a reporter: 鈥淚s it my job to feed my neighbour鈥檚 child? I don鈥檛 think so,鈥� his comments were rightly criticized by 91原创s across the country as callous and cruel.
His suggestion that it is not the government鈥檚 job to ensure children have breakfast is also incorrect; the 91原创 Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as international human rights treaties that Canada has committed to uphold, require governments to protect our rights to equality, life and security of the person, and to do everything they can to ensure an adequate standard of living for all.
Yet our governments have failed to ensure that our nation鈥檚 great wealth results in, at the very least, students arriving at school with nourishing food in their bellies, ready and able to learn.
B.C.鈥檚 child poverty rate is once again the worst in the country 鈥� one out of every five children in B.C. is living in poverty. That鈥檚 153,000 kids 鈥� enough to fill the stands at a Canucks game eight times over. First Nations and immigrant families, as well as families with children with disabilities, tend to be especially poor.
Astoundingly, half of all children living in families headed by single mothers are poor, living an average of $9,000 below the poverty line. Poverty among single mother-headed families arises from a number of factors, not least of which is听the difficulty single moms face finding quality, affordable child care that allows them to sustain paid听听employment.
One policy that actively undermines parents鈥� ability to support their children is the clawback of child-support payments. When a single parent on social assistance receives child support from the child鈥檚 other parent, the government takes that money away from the child, clawing back the entire amount from the family鈥檚 social-assistance cheque.
Social assistance rates in B.C. are already incredibly low and haven鈥檛 risen since 2007, despite the rising cost of living. As a result, families on welfare struggle to survive on incomes that are well below the poverty line.
Vast amounts of research demonstrate the toxic role poverty plays in undermining healthy childhood development, as well as the huge additional costs in health care, education, the justice system and lost productivity we are already paying by allowing poverty rates to remain so high.
Fortunately, most British Columbians don鈥檛 share Moore鈥檚 dismissive view that we have no collective responsibility for the well-being of our communities鈥� children. Polls suggest about 87 per cent of British Columbians think the premier and prime minister should set concrete targets and timelines for reducing poverty.
Yet B.C. is one of only two provinces left without a poverty-reduction plan. Now Family Day鈥檚 over, we need real action on family poverty.
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Laura Track is the legal director for West Coast LEAF; Adrienne Montani is the provincial co-ordinator of First Call: B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition; Trish Garner is the organizer of the B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition.
