Sign up for the paNOW newsletter

Sask. child advocate pinpoints poverty plight for youth

Dec 13, 2016 | 1:26 PM

To mark the 25th anniversary of the United Nations ratifying children’s rights, Saskatchewan’s child advocate says provincial efforts to pull youth out of poverty are insufficient.

“It almost seems like we’ve gone backwards,” advocate Corey O’Soup said.

He cited a recently released Campaign 2000 study which showed a quarter of Sask. youth live in poverty. The report states that number is significantly higher than the 18.5 per cent national average.

According to the study, in Prince Albert’s riding between 20 and 30 per cent of youth are impoverished.

Focusing just on First Nations youth, the study found 57 per cent of children across the province live in poverty.

“It should be unacceptable in a country like Canada where we seem to have everything we need, but our most vulnerable and those who can’t really take care of themselves are the ones who are suffering the most,” O’Soup said.

With an educational background, including previous experience as a teacher in Saskatoon and as the First Nation Métis advisor for the Sask. Ministry of Education, O’Soup said education is the key to pulling the province’s poor out of their current situation.

Looking specifically to the North, O’Soup pinpointed the exponentially higher accommodation and food costs as reasons why First Nations youth are facing a more extreme poverty plight.

“To actually get a good nutritious meal which will give you the proper energy and that will feed your brain properly (is) almost too much for most of our families in the North,” he said. “Our kids suffer if they don’t get that proper nutritious meal.”

Increased and more accessible subsidies for families is another way he said the government can help families.

Looking at child care costs, which have risen in by seven per cent in Saskatoon and Regina, subsidies are available if a household makes less than roughly $1,600 per month. The amount rises by $100 for every additional child.

However, O’Soup said the subsidy is insufficient given how low it is. He added it can make family members worry about a loss of funding if they further career goals and raise their income above the threshold.

“We need to have more benefits for our poor people who are wanting to go back to work and not penalize them for going back to work by having these incredibly high child care costs,” he said. 

Since poverty is such a complex issue, O’Soup said his office and the government need to work on preventative measures such as the Canada Child Benefit before children and families become lost in the system.

“We can’t cut things to our most vulnerable people when times are tough,” he said. “I think we have to invest and we’ll see those investments pay off in the long run.”

 

Spencer Sterritt is paNOW’s health and education reporter. He can be reached at ssterritt@panow.com or on Twitter @spencer_sterrit.