Child poverty in Canada is at the same level as it was in 1989, the year Parliament pledged to eliminate the problem by 2000, says a quality-of-life report card released Tuesday.
The report, from Community Foundations of Canada (CFC), states that in 2006 there were 1.6 million children, or 23 per cent of Canadian kids, living in poverty.
"That level of child poverty has virtually not changed in about 20 years -- we just have not been able to move the needle on child poverty," CFC president Monica Patten said in a press release.
Patten said there has not been enough progress anywhere in Canada to eliminate the problem.
"That's in spite of resolutions both at government levels and in communities to overcome that incredible challenge for us," she said.
The highest child poverty rates among the 15 communities profiled in the report were found in Toronto and Vancouver. The lowest rates were in Calgary and Oakville, Ont.
The report, called Vital Signs 2008, was not timed to coincide with the federal election campaign, Patten said.
"We are non-partisan organizations, so obviously I'm not able, not going to comment, on any particular platforms or policies," she told The Canadian Press. "But clearly the numbers speak for themselves. The figures show that as a country, we are not making enough progress on poverty."
The report card tracked and graded each community's quality of life in key areas such as the gap between rich and poor, health, housing and the environment.
In addition to its data on child poverty, the report card also revealed:
- The median income of non-immigrant Canadian families increased by more than 5 per cent from 2000 to 2005 while immigrant families' incomes fell by one per cent. Recent immigrants' (those in Canada less than five years) incomes fell more than three per cent.
- In 2007, only 22 per cent of Canadians hadn't finished high school, down from almost 38 per cent in 1990.
- The obesity rate in Canada has swollen to 16 per cent in 2007 from 12 per cent in 1996.
