EXCERPTS
Some 637,000 Canadian children are still living in low-income families, 20 years after Ed Broadbent and other federal politicians unanimously agreed to end child poverty, according to a new report.
The rate of child and family poverty has gone down only slightly over the past 18 years, to 9.5% in 2007 from 11.9% in 1989 -- a "national disgrace," the former NDP leader says.
The 2009 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada, released by the national awareness group Campaign 2000, says the most recent figure is 637,000 Canadian children who live in a family where a majority of money is spent on such necessities as food, clothing and shelter. Low income, two-parent families would need an additional $9,400 a year to bring their income up to the poverty line, it said.
The report's authors estimate that numbers from 2008 and 2009 will tell a similar story, especially in the midst of a recession.
Despite what anti-poverty advocates call an unprecedented period of growth since 1998, there's been a widening gap between families with the highest and lowest incomes. Canada has failed to make advances to alleviate a problem which affects one in 10 children in this country, said the report.
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- reprinted from Canwest News Service