Editorial
It breaks one’s heart knowing that children are missing meals or going to school with worn-out clothing because their family lives in poverty.
In yesteryear you could easily discern which children were poor by the holes in their jeans (which ironically today is a sign of being fashionably “cool”). The bigger the rips, the cooler the child . . . literally.
Some kids often came to school with no food and would “bum” snacks from their friends whose lunchboxes were chock full of ham and cheese sandwiches, Half Moon cakes and Dare cookies. These were the wealthier students, the ones who brought Granny Smith apples to class.
There was much poverty then as there is today, and it doesn’t appear to be getting any better, according to the 2024 BC Child Poverty Report released in December by First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society.
The report reveals a continuing rise in child destitution in BC, with one in six children (147,570) living below the poverty line. This suggests a 17 per cent increase from 2021 and points to the ongoing financial hardship that families are struggling with.
The most vulnerable are children in single-parent households, 45.5 per cent of whom are living in poverty, fighting rising costs and accessible child care.
First Call executive director Adrienne Montani says behind every statistic is a child whose potential is being constrained by circumstances beyond their control.
Key findings of the report include the widening gap between incomes of BC’s richest and poorest families, and the disproportionate affect on Indigenous youth.
The report indicates the poverty rate among children on a sample of First Nation reserves is an alarming 35 per cent, rising to 42 per cent on rural reserves.
With no more pandemic-era income supports, families are hurting. That’s why First Call is urging policymakers to raise living wages and support systems, expand access to affordable housing and child care, and focus on Indigenous and lone-parent families.
Locally, the Windermere Teachers’ Association previously tackled child poverty by calling for a strategy to reduce destitution among youth and their families. Teachers reported that some students were dozing off in class, while others were stealing their classmates’ lunches.
Thankfully, a lot has happened over the past 10 years to address this problem. Many schools have established nutritional food programs for hungry students, and the BC government passed a new, updated strategy to reduce child poverty by 75 per cent. But more needs to be done.
Kudos to parent advisory councils in the district for pulling out the stops locally to ensure that many pupils aren’t learning on an empty stomach.
Lyonel Doherty, editor
