Progress Made In Reducing Child Poverty: Report

Three decades after the federal government promised to end child poverty, 30,000 New Brunswick children still live in poverty.

But a social researcher with the Human Development Council believes the issue is one which can be solved.

The council, in partnership with Campaign 2000, released its annual child poverty report card Tuesday.

It examines the current state of child poverty in the province and presents recommendations for the provincial and federal governments.

Chelsea Driscoll, a social researcher with the council, said 2019 marked the 30th anniversary of the House of Commons resolution to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000.

Driscoll said while the target was not reached, progress has been made. New Brunswick’s child poverty rate stood at 21.7 per cent in 2017 compared to 26.5 per cent in 1989.

“There’s been a lot of great policy changes in the last few years especially. We’ve had the introduction of the Canada Child Benefit, which offers families more federal support than previous benefits. There’s also some new childcare subsidies which are not evaluated in this report but we know will make a difference going forward,” said Driscoll.

• READ: New Brunswick’s 2019 Child Poverty Report Card
• READ: 2019 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada

But Driscoll said while child poverty has declined marginally, there is still a long way to go to eliminate it.

New Brunswick’s child poverty rate remains above the national average of 18.6 per cent and is unevenly distributed across the province.

“Campbellton, Bathurst and Saint John are all over 30 per cent, but then you have areas such as Dieppe and Quispamsis and Rothesay that are hovering around the 10 to 12 per cent,” said Driscoll.

The report also finds young children, children in lone-parent families, Indigenous children, racialized children and those who are newcomers face higher poverty rates than others.

It makes several recommendations to help reduce poverty, which include increasing welfare and maternity leave rates, implementing universal pharmacare, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and investing in social housing.

“There’s no silver bullet or magic policy that’s going to completely eliminate this, but with the right combination of policies, it’s definitely something that is achievable,” said Driscoll.