’One in six is too many’: Province urged to tackle child poverty

EDMONTON Child poverty is on the rise in the province and non-profit public interest groups are calling on the Alberta government to act with a poverty reduction strategy — as one of only two provinces without one.

One in six children are living in poverty in Alberta as of 2016 — the most recent data available — and the number has grown 23.4 per cent over the last 10 years, according to the annual Alberta Poverty Report released Tuesday by Public Interest Alberta, the Edmonton Social Planning Council and the Alberta College of Social Workers.

The annual report titled “One in Six is too Many” calls for the provincial government to improve this gap by addressing the shortage of annual tax revenue, continuing to increase the minimum wage and implementing a universal child care system.

There were 171,860 children aged 0-17 under the province’s low-income threshold in 2016, up from 162,200 in 2014.

The advocacy groups argue a poverty reduction strategy is essential in promoting real action to address the growing issue as it could leverage and co-ordinate resources and government initiatives.

Eight Alberta municipalities have created their own anti-poverty plans in an attempt to reduce the severity of poverty, including Edmonton’s EndPoverty strategy.

“Legislating a plan to eliminate poverty with targets and other accountability measures would show we are serious about addressing the problem. Our federal government now has one, as do Alberta’s major municipalities, so immediate provincial government action on this is necessary,” Public Interest Alberta executive director Joel French said in a news release Tuesday.

The report also found women, Indigenous, visible minority and LGBTQ communities are disproportionately affected by poverty, with 24.1 per cent of Indigenous children living in poverty.