OUR GRADES ARE SLIPPING
More kids face mental illness, poverty
Children need to worry about more than math and reading in school, as many are grappling with serious issues such as mental illness and poverty, says a national study being released today as they return to class.
“A nation cannot prosper if it fails to invest in its children,” says the Raising Canada study, conducted by the University of Calgary ’s O’Brien Institute for Public Health for the non-profit group Children First Canada.
“There are nearly eight million children and youth below the age of 18, representing nearly a quarter of Canada’s population. Many kids are doing just fine, but far too many young lives are in jeopardy.”
Issues highlighted by the study include preventable injuries, poverty, child abuse, suicide, poor nutrition and mental illness. The findings were based on data from Statistics Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the Canadian Institute of Child Health, Health Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Among the report’s recommendations was a call for an independent federal government office to promote the best interests of children, and the creation of a children’s budget to track national investment in young people.
One of the key areas of concern was mental health. The study found that over the last decade, emergency department visits for mental illness jumped by two-thirds and hospitalizations by more than half for Canadian youths aged five to 24. In B.C. alone, 5,179 children were hospitalized in 2016-17 for mental health concerns, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Among the other mental health findings in the O’Brien Institute’s research:
■ Suicide was the second leading cause of death among Canadian children and youths. A 2016 Kids Help Phone survey found one in five teenagers said they had considered suicide, and that girls were two times more likely than boys. First Nations youth were at the greatest risk, as federal government stats showed their suicide rates are five to seven times higher than those of non-Aboriginal youths.
■ About 2,500 children aged 10 to 17 were hospitalized every year in Canada due to self-harm injuries, and four out of every five were girls. Hospitalization for self-harm among youths increased by 90 per cent between 2009 and 2014.
■ Based on data collected in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, nearly nine per cent of youths (15 to 24) were prescribed at least one medication to treat a mood or anxiety disorder in 201617.
■ Discrimination and online bullying continued to be a concern for children.
The mental health concerns of children have also been flagged by researchers in B.C., such as Charlotte Waddell, director of Simon Fraser University’s Children’s Health Policy Centre.
She has found that 70 per cent of children with mental disorders in B.C. are not receiving the specialized mental health services they require. She has also released recent statistics showing the prevalence of mental health problems in children in this province, such as 25,300 with anxiety, 16,600 with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), 8,400 with substance-use disorders, and 4,000 with autism.
The B.C. Ministry of Education also acknowledged this issue among B.C. children in a back-toschool advisory issued last week. Along with information about curricula and scholarships, it highlighted the NDP’s new foundry centres, which provide multiple mental health services for youth in one location.
One of the other concerns highlighted in the report was the 1.2 million children in Canada living in poverty.
In B.C., nearly one out of every five children lives in a low-income household, which is slightly better than the three Maritime provinces, where the average was 22 per cent, but worse than Alberta (13 per cent) and Quebec (14 per cent). Poverty rates were the highest among Indigenous children, especially those living on reserves.
And more than one in 10 families in Canada with children under the age of six experience “food insecurity”: not having enough money to buy proper groceries.
Obesity is also on the rise among children, afflicting more than one in four, the study said.
British Columbia is the only province without a poverty-reduction plan, but the B.C. NDP vowed to create one after its election in 2017. A government-appointed advisory forum gathered input between October and March from 5,000 people about living in poverty and issued a report in July, which will be used to created the new plan that is to be introduced in October.
The advisory forum’s report found three major challenges facing families living in poverty in B.C.: Housing is expensive, wages are low, and families struggle to feed their kids.
Sara Austin, founder of Children First Canada, said this country must do better, noting that last year UNICEF ranked Canada only 25th out of 41 rich countries for the well-being of its children.
“It is both an economic and moral imperative that we act now, and we call on our government, and on all Canadians, to join us. Our collective fate as a nation rests on the well-being of our children,” Austin said in a statement.
Many kids are doing just fine, but far too many young lives are in jeopardy.