A new report says Aboriginal children in Canada are more than two-and-a-half times as likely to grow up in poverty as non-Aboriginal children.
The report, written by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Save the Children Canada, also says 50% of First Nations children are living in poverty.
In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, two out of three status First Nations children live in poverty.
David Macdonald, one of the report’s co-authors, says he hopes the alarming numbers in the report serve as a wake up call to all Canadians.
“This is a very young population and this is a real opportunity for this population to fill into the labour market as baby boomers retire over the next 20 years or so,” he says. “So, that’s one choice. We could have these kids not grow up in poverty, have these kids grow up with adequate education and hopefully get good jobs when they grow up. Or, we could let them languish in poverty and then pass on to the next generation a real social service nightmare.”
He adds a big part of the problem has been the federal government’s decision to cap social service budget transfers to reserves at two per cent since the mid-1990’s.
The report, titled “Poverty or Prosperity: Indigenous Children in Canada”, says overall about 40% of Aboriginal children in Canada are living in poverty, while this number is 15% for the non-Aboriginal population.
It says Aboriginal children in Canada trail other children in almost all measures of well-being including family income, educational attainment, homelessness, water quality, infant mortality, health and suicide rates.
The report’s authors say it would take $7.5 billion a year to bring all children up to the poverty line.
One billion dollars of this would be required for Indigenous children and $580 million for First Nations children.
The study is based on 2006 census data.