UNICEF: child poverty rate decreased in Canada during recession

HALIFAX — UNICEF is commending the Canadian government and its provincial counterparts after it found the country’s overall child poverty rate decreased during the recession five years ago.

The child poverty rate decreased from 23 to 21 per cent during the recession from 2008 to 2011, pulling roughly 180,000 children out of poverty, UNICEF Canada said Tuesday in a new report.

David Morley, president and CEO of UNICEF Canada, said in other affluent countries, child poverty actually increased during the same period of time.

“I think that’s really impressive. It’s better than the majority of other countries did during the recession,’’ Morley said. “It shows to me that when we put our mind to it as a society, we can make a difference in the lives of children.’’

The report by the UN Children’s Fund is titled Report Card 12: Children of the Recession and it says the child poverty rate increased by an average of three percentage points across the 41 industrialized countries that were studied.

Morley said the report attributes the decrease in Canada to initiatives by both the federal and provincial governments, such as Ottawa’s National Child Benefit supplement, which gives monthly payments and benefits to lowincome families with children.

But for Canada’s most vulnerable children, conditions deteriorated, the report said. It said the child poverty gap, the difference between the median income of poor children and the poverty line, increased two percentage points.