Toronto holds onto its shameful title: Child poverty capital of Canada

Toronto remains the child poverty capital of Canada, with 28.6 per cent of children living in low-income households, according to a new report being released Tuesday as the city prepares to release its final poverty reduction strategy to address the problem.

“It is shameful that our leaders have allowed widespread poverty of young people to continue,” said Michael Polanyi of the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, one of six community groups that began comparing child poverty rates in cities across the country in 2014.

“Until all levels of government make poverty reduction a priority, the success of tens of thousands of young people will remain at risk,” he said.

Toronto’s child poverty rate remains virtually unchanged since last year’s report, with more than one in four, or 144,000 children, living in households with incomes below Statistics Canada’s After-Tax Low-Income Measure, the report notes.

Among Canada’s largest cities, Toronto has the highest percentage of impoverished children. Montreal is second with 25 per cent, Winnipeg is third at 24 per cent followed by Hamilton with 22 per cent of children under age 18 growing up in poverty.

Of Toronto’s 140 neighbourhoods, 18 have child poverty rates above 40 per cent, according to the report, based on the latest available 2013 Revenue Canada tax filer data.

(In 2011, the low-income measure for a single person in Toronto was $16,456 and $39,912 for a two-parent family with two children under age 16.)

The group’s report underscores the need for Toronto to adopt a poverty reduction strategy with significant investment, said Anita Khanna of Family Service Toronto.

“The large and persistent neighbourhood and racial gap in children’s economic conditions and opportunities is alarming,” she said. “Mayor Tory and city council can do something about this disparity — by adopting a comprehensive and bold poverty reduction strategy this fall and making action a priority in the city’s 2016 Budget.”

Eight of the city’s neighbourhoods with the highest concentrations of child poverty are in the city’s north-west and five are downtown, including Regent Park, which has the highest rate at 63 per cent.

Regent Park community engagement worker Sureya Ibrahim created sewing and catering collectives two years ago to help local women use their skills to earn money.

“It is helping these families get a little extra to help make ends meet,” said Ibrahim, who is also an area resident.

Single parent Hawo Ali, 53, who has raised 11 children in Regent Park, earned her Toronto Public Health Food Handler Certificate through Ibrahim’s program. Her samosas are very popular, Ibrahim said.

Ali, who came to Canada from Somalia in 1992 with five children, had six more kids with her husband after she arrived. But in 1999 her husband left and a year later a workplace injury forced her to quit her job as a cleaner.

“I see all my neighbours and friends and it’s a hard life,” she said. But all of her children, including six who are in university and college, are doing well.

“I am grateful for these programs,” she said.

Ibrahim, who arranged for a group of Regent Park youth to give their input to the city’s anti-poverty efforts, has participated in numerous city hall meetings on the issue herself.

“We need more training for youth to get jobs,” she said.

“It is hard for our community to access public services and programs when they don’t have computers for online registration,” she added. “Everything is always full.”

Child poverty in Toronto

• Poverty rates among Toronto children outpace other age groups. The poverty rate for working-age adults is 24 per cent while just 10 per cent of Toronto seniors live in poverty.
• Child poverty rates in Toronto range from over 50 per cent in Regent Park, Moss Park, Oakridge and Thorncliffe Park to less than 5 per cent in Lawrence Park North and Kingsway South.
• Children with disabilities and those from newcomer, indigenous, single-parent and non-white households, are more likely to experience poverty.
• Of 25 neighbourhoods in Scarborough, 18 had child poverty rates above 30 per cent.
• Child poverty rates in Toronto’s 10 most linguistically diverse neighbourhoods are about four times higher than rates in neighbourhoods where most residents speak only English.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com/
Author:  Laurie Monsebraaten