2016 BC Child Poverty Report Card

The evidence in However, as the evidence continues to show, the severity and longevity of the this report is a call crisis of child poverty in this wealthy province calls for a much bolder and more to action to all comprehensive public policy response. [...] They address the root causes of child and family poverty — low wages, inadequate wel- fare rates and other income supports; an insufficiently progressive tax system; 2016 BC CHILD POVERTY REPORT CARD 5 firstcallbc.org Let candidates the crisis in the affordability and availability of high-quality child care and the and those inadequacy of maternity and parental leave benefits; the housing crisis; [...] However, in terms of the total number of children living in poverty, the Guildford, Newton and Whalley areas of Surrey had the most severe child poverty situation — this was due to a combination of high child poverty rates and large numbers of children living in these areas. [...] The average income of the richest decile of families in BC was 13 times the average income of the lowest decile, or a ratio of 13 to one. [...] With federal and provincial transfers, The graph on the following page shows the rate of reduction in child poverty the number of in 2014 in Canada and individual provinces as a result of government trans- poor children fers.