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Editorial
Counting the cost of child
poverty
The Toronto Star, April 30, 2007
Child poverty in Canada is a national disgrace that
shames us on the world stage and offends our
international legal obligations. That was a central
message put forward last week by Canadian senators and
physicians who are lobbying Ottawa to take the rights
and needs of children far more seriously than it has in
the past.
In a report called Children: The Silenced Citizens,
the Senate human rights committee faulted Ottawa for
failing miserably to live up to its obligations to
protect the rights and freedoms of children. One of its
key recommendations calls for a federal strategy to
combat child poverty with clear goals and timetables,
including preventive measures for high-risk families and
a coherent housing strategy. All are measures the Star
has urged in our War On Poverty campaign.
Meanwhile, a Child Health Summit sponsored by a
coalition of physicians lobbying to improve health
outcomes for children met in Ottawa to discuss how to
improve Canada's unacceptably mediocre international
ranking on child health.
Both groups' conclusions underline the stark fact
that children's rights and health are inextricably
linked to poverty, and often are neglected.
"Children's voices rarely inform government
decisions, yet they are one of the groups most affected
by government action or inaction," the Senate report
found. "Children are not merely under-represented; they
are almost not represented at all."
In addition to calling on Prime Minister Stephen
Harper's Conservative government to address poverty and
housing issues directly, the all-party Senate committee
urged Ottawa to work with the provinces to establish
standards and guidelines for improving early childhood
development programs and child care, matched with
adequate funding. Child care has fallen off the federal
agenda since the Conservatives cancelled a
federal-provincial agreement.
At the same time, the physicians cited our dismal
ranking on everything from infant mortality to youth
suicide, all linked to poverty. Canada ranks 21st among
29 wealthy nations on infant mortality, 22nd on youth
suicide and 19th of 20 on childhood obesity.
And the health of aboriginal children is so abysmal
it ranks with that of developing countries, which
concerned senators and physicians alike.
How little does Canada care about children, despite
Parliament's unanimous vote in 1989 to end child poverty
by 2000? Today, 18 years later, among 26 wealthy nations
we rank 22nd in terms of children living in relative
poverty. By any standard, these are dismal statistics.
Consciousness-raising is an important first step
toward turning things around. That is no doubt why both
groups have urged Ottawa to create an independent
commissioner for children and youth, to give them a
voice on the national stage and to promote their issues
on the government agenda. It is an idea well worth
exploring.
As Sir Albert Aynsley-Green, the Child Commissioner
for England, put it at the health summit: "The badge of
honour of a civilized society is to protect its most
vulnerable." We are nowhere close.
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