A generation’s future could include more crime, drug use, teen pregnancies, poor health and failure at school and work
Could British Columbia be the very last province to enact a plan to fight poverty? That’s the question asked by BC Campaign 2000 in its latest report card on child poverty [opens to PDF]. Statistics show that the child poverty rate in B.C. rose from 14.5 percent in 2008 to 16.4 percent in 2009. The B.C. rate was only slightly lower than the Manitoba rate of 16.8 percent and was much higher than the national rate for all ten provinces of 14 percent.
“The evidence tells us that living in poverty puts children’s health at risk and undermines their life chances. It’s costing us too much to allow the status quo to continue,” says Lorraine Copas of SPARC B.C.. A March 21, 2011 article in The Province titled “British Columbia: ‘The province that doesn’t look after its kids’” included the grim prediction that an entire generation of young people in B.C. may be headed for a bleak future due to the effects of poverty.
We speak with Adrienne Montani, of First Call: B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, and with Jim MacGregor, community school coordinator at Nanaimo District Secondary School.
