Manitoba groups call for child poverty action

WINNIPEG — The federal government is 19 years overdue on delivering on its promise to end child poverty, it is time to fix the problem.

This is the message hammered home by a group demonstrating on the front steps to the Manitoba Legislature on Monday at noon, using empty paper bags to illustrate children in Manitoba are in poverty.

The promise to end child and family poverty by 2000 was made in 1989, but successive federal governments have fallen short on action, according to organizers. With Parliament set to return on Dec. 5, their goal is to give higher priority to this issue.

“We want them to take it seriously, look at the policies they’re putting in place and always put on a poverty lens, and that has to be at all three levels of government,” said Kate Kehler, executive director for the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg.

Both the provincial and federal government, however, pointed to numbers and programs that showed reductions on child poverty over the last few years.

Deputy Premier and Minister of Families, MLA Heather Stefanson referenced Manitoba’s Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion Strategy report for 201718 which shows a reduction in 17 of 21 indicators of poverty within the province.

“We’ve reduced child poverty by 42 per cent since taking office,” she said. “We’ve also reduced overall poverty by seven per cent. I think we’re moving in the right direction, but there’s certainly more work to be done. We welcome any ideas from advocates out there.”

Organizers pointed to Manitoba having the second-highest rates of child poverty in the country in 2017 with 27.9 per cent in poverty, behind only Nunavut (31.17 per cent) — the national rate is 18.6 per cent — pulling from taxfiler data.

First Nations and northern communities do have a much higher rate of poverty than other parts of the country, but Northern Affairs minister Dan Vandal, said the federal government is working to improve those numbers.

Vandal pointed to the Child Tax Benefit which came into existence in 2016 as a major driver of improving poverty levels.