163,000 B.C. kids live in poverty: Study

One in five B.C. children lives in poverty, a rate that is unchanged from 20 years ago, First Call’s 2016 B.C. Child Poverty Report Card shows.

That’s 163,000 kids living in poverty, including 50 per cent of those living with single parents and high numbers of foster children aging out of care, children of recent immigrants, indigenous children, children in visible-minority families and children with a disability, the report card says. In 2016, 33,300 B.C. children relied on food banks, the report says.

“We want to shine a light on the over-represented groups,” said Adrienne Montani, First Call’s provincial co-ordinator.

Raising minimum-wage and social-assistance rates would go a long way toward fixing the problem, Montani said. As would affordable child care, living wages and more supports for post-secondary education, she added.

“But, first, have a provincial poverty reduction plan with some accountability,” Montani said.

For many years, B.C. had the highest child-poverty rate in Canada, but today it’s in the middle of the pack, after Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Quebec (15.1 per cent) and Alberta (15.5) have the lowest rates in the country. The national rate is 18.5 per cent. The report card uses 2014 data.

Montani said B.C.’s jump is due to a change in how the statistics are calculated, rather than a sudden improvement for B.C.’s kids. The old data didn’t capture people living on reserves, which may explain the changes for Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

B.C.’s overall poverty rate is 16 per cent. If B.C.’s child-poverty rate had been reduced to the same level as the overall poverty rate, there would have been 31,281 fewer poor kids in B.C., the report card says.