Report Says Child Poverty in Canada Same Level as 1989

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Canada’s Vital Signs 2008 is the annual report card on quality of life from Community Foundations of Canada (CFC). This year's report card (pdf) shows child poverty in Canada is stuck at the same level as 1989 and immigrant family incomes are falling behind.


Highlights of the report were released today and show:

• More than one in five Canadian children (23 per cent or 1.6 million) lived in poverty in 2006. This is virtually the same level as in 1989, when Canada pledged to eliminate child poverty by the year
2000. At the current rate, achieving this goal would take 43 more years or until 2050.

• While the median income of non-immigrant Canadian families increased by over 5% from 2000 to 2005, immigrant families’ incomes fell by one per cent and recent immigrants’ (those in Canada less than five years) incomes fell more than three per cent. The situation is most striking in Canada’s largest cities, where recent immigrants’ incomes were half the median income of non-immigrant families: Toronto – 50 per cent, Montreal - 51.1 per cent, Vancouver - 51.8 per cent.

Canada’s Vital Signs 2008 also includes some revealing trends about Canadians’ individual challenges and achievements.

• More Canadians are finishing high school. In 2007, only 22 per cent of Canadians hadn’t finished high school, down from almost 38 per cent in 1990, which bodes well for Canadians’ economic success and competitiveness. However, there are some disturbing gaps in educations levels. Among Canadians aged 25-44, the share of men without a high school education is more than 30 per cent higher than that of women. In 2006, 43.7 per cent of aboriginal people did not have a high school diploma.

• The obesity rate in Canada has swollen to 16 per cent in 2007 from 12 per cent in 1996, increasing the risk of future health problems and escalating health care costs.

• Canadians are showing increasing interest in the arts. About 41 per cent of Canadian adults reported attending a live arts performance in 2005, up from 38 per cent in 1998.


“At a time when Canadians are considering our country’s priorities and determining its future direction, Canada’s Vital Signs challenges us all to think about what actions we can take, as individuals and as a society, to improve quality of life for ourselves and other Canadians,” said Monica Patten CFC’s President and CEO.

“Canadian community foundations urge our partners - business, governments, other organizations and individuals – to use our Vital Signs reports as a catalyst for action.”

Canada’s Vital Signs 2008 is part of a growing nation-wide initiative by Canadian community foundations to measure quality of life and take action to improve it.

There are now 15 local Vital Signs report cards are being released by community foundations across Canada. This is an increase from 11 reports issued last year and six produced in 2006. Community organizations in Australia and Brazil are also researching similar reports.

This is another important election issue, ask your candidates how their party plans to improve this situation.