Anti-poverty measures are missing mark

Benefits not reaching many kids in need, Shawn Bayes and Rachel Gouin explain.

Children whose parents are homeless, incarcerated or have addictions face an array of challenges, including lifelong impacts on their mental and physical health, and their ability to achieve in education and employment. They are more likely to grow up in poverty, and less likely to access federally funded benefits meant to help them. That must change.

Nearly 30 years ago, the House of Commons pledged to eliminate child poverty. The following year, Canada signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, committing to supporting all children in our country. A decade after that, the Social Union Framework promised to provide access to the same social programs across Canada, so all children could reach their potential.

Canada has enacted measures to reduce poverty, such as the Canada Child Benefit and the Canada Learning Bond, but these benefits are not reaching children who live in extreme poverty. The bureaucracy and expenses poor caregivers face when seeking to access federally funded benefits means many of the most vulnerable children are going without.

Vulnerable children also receive wildly different amounts from the funds Canada provides to the provinces and territories through the social transfer. The federal government transfers the same per-child amount to all, yet due to a lack of standards in how those funds are distributed, children in different parts of the country don’t receive the same supports. Nowhere is this gap starker than for First Nations children. Canada has yet to comply with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which ruled the flawed and inequitable provision of First Nation child and family services to be discriminatory.

To truly end child poverty, Canada must adapt its support systems to the realities of poor families — the majority of them women-led, single-parent households, with the

To truly end child poverty, Canada must adapt its support systems to the realities of poor families ...

highest poverty rates among Indigenous and racialized families.

So, what steps does Canada need to take? First, consider children when creating supports for the extreme poor. Children who are living with parents housed through federally funded programs, such as the current Homelessness Partnering Strategy, are not supported. Right now, only adults get support through this program. We have heard that changes are being considered that would include children; that would be a step in the right direction.

Cut the red tape that prevents children from receiving federal benefits by having different parts of government connect to obtain the information required for caregivers to access benefits for children, such as birth certificates. Expand the circle of people able to attest to residency to include charities, so poor families with kids too young for school can meet the requirement for federal benefits. Set delivery standards, so all children get the same access to federally funded support no matter where they live.

Canada must follow through on UN commitments to support vulnerable children such as those affected by homelessness, parental addiction or incarceration, which have a deeply negative impact on children. Indeed, this is the only Commonwealth country that does not provide support for children of incarcerated parents. We know such supports are successful and Canada has obligated itself to provide them.

Canada is nearly 30 years overdue in meeting its commitments to the most vulnerable children. We must do better.

Currently, there is a petition before the House of Commons calling for these changes. We invite all Canadians and residents to sign it. Bayes is executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver, a non-profit organization that supports women and children at risk, involved in or impacted by the justice system.

Gouin is executive director of the Child Welfare League of Canada, a national voice for vulnerable children.