At least one quarter of the children in the Peace River-Westlock riding are living below the poverty line according to a study by Campaign 2000, an anti-poverty advocacy group.
The report, released June 18, compares poverty rates by federal riding and found rates of childhood poverty are at their highest levels in Alberta.
“It’s very concerning. It’s not just poverty happening today, it leads to cycles of poverty that affect us far into the future,” said Public Interest Alberta executive director Joel French, who spoke on behalf of Campaign 2000.
“It leads to unemployment issues and homelessness. Problems that seem like they’re really complex for us to solve today, in a lot of cases they start with children living in poverty and not developing properly.”
According to Statistics Canada, there are 3,680 low-income families in the riding. Low income is defined as making less than $25,000 for a single person, $31,000 for a family of two and adding roughly $7,000 for each additional family member.
French noted that children growing up in poverty can suffer from nutritional deficiencies, which stunts development. Essentially, growing up poor sets youth up for a difficult life and makes it difficult to escape the cycle, leading to physical and mental health issues that follow them throughout their lives, he said.
As for solutions, he highlighted increasing minimum wage as one of the biggest things governments can do to alleviate poverty, noting that many low-income families string together part-time jobs just to make ends meet.
Other things French said could alleviate the problem would be a national pharmacare program, as the costs of medication can be particularly problematic for low-income families and a universal child -are program. French noted the province’s pilot daycare program is helping, but needs to be expanded.
“If all families could access a child care system, regardless of where they live without regard to their ability to pay, that’s something where our provincial government has made some significant steps in the right direction, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” he said. “But that’s how we help children’s brains develop properly and ensure they develop into healthy teenagers and adults that can learn effectively, engage in our society and be effective in workplaces. That’s how we break the cycle.”
He also said work needed to be done to shorten the gap in services provided on and off Aboriginal reserves, such as education funding.
“Students on reserves are receiving an education that’s funded between 20 to 30 per cent lower than what students outside of reserves are getting,” he said. “Closing that gap is something the Trudeau government has talked about doing, but so far it’s been all talk and no action.”
French cautioned that the numbers used in the study were collected in 2016, so initiatives such as the federal and provincial governments child tax benefits aren’t accounted for yet.
“The stats we have here are showing just the very beginning of those. I hope as we get newer data we start to see the bigger impact of those,” he said. “This report was put out in advance of the federal poverty reduction strategy that’s being worked on right now, so the real question is what is the solid, tangible action that follows the report?”
