After years of decline, child poverty in Canada is rising swiftly: report

Child poverty is rising swiftly in Canada and the Liberal government's Canada Child Benefit "has lost its power to sustain poverty reduction" and bring down income inequality, says a new report from Campaign 2000.

The anti-poverty group's annual report card on child and family poverty in Canada found that there are now 1.4 million children living in poverty across the country, with another 360,000 children falling into poverty over the last two years.

"This year's report card was pretty dire even for those of us who track this issue day in and day out," Leila Sarangi, Campaign 2000's national director, said in Ottawa Tuesday. "We were shocked to see these numbers."

Campaign 2000 has been issuing its annual report card on poverty since 1991. This year's report looks at the change from 2021 to 2022 and concludes that during that time, "child poverty increased in every province and territory."

"The sharp increase in national child poverty rates from 2020 to 2021 was the first in 10 years and appears to signal a reversal in the downward trend that began in 2015," the report said.

"Most alarming was the 2.5 percentage point jump from 2021 to 2022, the largest annual increase in child poverty [since 2000]. Federal strategies for poverty reduction are failing children, families and all of society."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government introduced the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) in its first budget. The CCB, which restructured several payments and tax credits into one benefit, came with a promise that nine out of 10 families would be better off.

In February 2017, Statistics Canada reported that the number of people living below the poverty line fell from 4,238,000 in 2015 — when the Liberal government formed its majority — to 3,412,000 in 2017. The number of children living in poverty declined from 900,000 to 622,000 over the same period.

But Campaign 2000 said the CCB is losing its effectiveness and the gains made by the Trudeau government are being eroded by the rising cost of living.

The Canada Child Benefit

"On average, [the CCB] reduced child poverty by 8.8 percentage points annually. In 2022, it reduced child poverty by 7.8 percentage points, the lowest reduction to date," the report said.

According to the Statistics Canada data used by Campaign 2000, 20.9 per cent of children under the age of 18 were living in poverty in Canada when the Liberals came to power.

Over the next five years, that percentage gradually reduced — first to 19.6 per cent in 2016, then to 18.6 per cent in 2017, before hitting 18.2 and 17.7 in the subsequent two years. The child poverty rate then dropped significantly to 13.5 per cent in 2020, when the federal government rolled out its pandemic support program.

But since pandemic benefits stopped flowing and inflation started rising, poverty among children and families has been on the rise, first to 15.6 per cent in 2021 and then to 18.1 per cent in 2022.

While that rate is still almost three percentage points lower than it was when the Liberals came to power, Campaign 2000 is concerned that the rate is now trending upward again.

The anti-poverty group's report card found that in nine of 13 provinces and territories, the number of children under the age of 18 living in poverty was higher than the national average of 18.1 per cent. The percentage was lower than that average in Quebec, B.C., P.E.I. and Yukon.

In 2022, Nunavut had the highest child poverty rate in the country at 41.8 per cent, followed closely by Manitoba at 27.1 per cent and Saskatchewan at 26.7 per cent.

Yukon and Quebec had the lowest child poverty rates in the country at 12 per cent each, followed by  B.C. at 16.7 per cent and P.E.I. at 16.8 per cent.

The provinces that saw the largest increases in their child poverty rates for children under six between 2021 and 2022 were Newfoundland and Labrador (a 4 per cent rise), Nova Scotia, (a 3.8 per cent increase) and Ontario and New Brunswick, which saw increases of 3.7 per cent.

The provinces with the biggest increases in the poverty rate for all children under 18 were Ontario at 3.5 per cent, Nova Scotia at 3.3 per cent and New Brunswick at 3.2 per cent.

The report also looked at how poverty affects children from different family backgrounds and found that of the more than 52,000 children not living with a family, 99 per cent are living in poverty.

The report also found that almost one in two children in single-parent families, 45 per cent, live in poverty, while only 10 per cent of children living in a census family — defined as a married couple, or common-dwelling couple — lived in poverty in 2022.

Sarangi said the federal government needs to boost the CCB and pursue a more aggressive poverty reduction strategy.

She also wants the federal government to stop compelling low-income families to repay emergency pandemic benefits.

"The federal courts are filled with people appealing their decision and many have been saddled with tens of thousands of dollars of debt … We need to retire that debt and cease pursuing low-income families," Sarangi said. 

Genevieve Lemaire, press secretary to Families, Children and Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds, told CBC News the federal government has been making efforts to combat child poverty with its national day care and dental plans and the CCB.

"There's more work to be done to reduce poverty amongst Canadians, including our children," Lemaire said. "We are committed to rolling up our sleeves and doing exactly that.

"We won't stop delivering for Canadians until everyone in this country feels real financial relief they need and deserve and can live in dignity."