1 in 6 Ontario children live in poverty: report

Last Updated: Tuesday, March 6, 2007 | 4:42 PM ET
CBC News

Despite Ontario's strengthening economy, the number of children living in poverty in the province is rising, an annual report card by an anti-poverty group says.

The study by Ontario Campaign 2000 found that one in six children live in poverty, or about 478,480 children, with the provincial child poverty rate inching up to 17.4 per cent in 2004 from 15.1 per cent three years before.

"The average low-income family in Ontario is living in deeper poverty now than it was 12 years ago," said Jacquie Maund, one of the authors of the study.

An increasing number of poor children, about two in every five low-income children, live in homes where one parent has a full-time job, the report says.

The report blamed a low minimum wage, gaps in social assistance, and the increase of temporary and contract jobs for the growing problem.

Campaign 2000 plans to call on the provincial government to include funding for the alleviation of poverty in its upcoming March 22 provincial budget.

Maund suggested the governing Liberals increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour by July 1, invest money in child care and affordable housing, and increase the province's social assistance rate.
Continue Article

Premier Dalton McGuinty has indicated the budget will contain measures to address child poverty.

Single mother Ramona Manner told a news conference how making $10 an hour would mean working two jobs instead of her current three, and helping her 16-year-old daughter.

"She wants to go to college but I can't afford it," said Manner, adding it's impossible for her to save.

The report says the average two-parent low-income family lives $11,000 below the poverty line, and the average single-parent family lives $9,500 below.