Pandemic is increasing child poverty

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Job losses and disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the number of children in Alberta living in poverty.

A new report highlighting the issue of child poverty, Spotlight: Lessons on Child Poverty during a Pandemic, was released jointly by the Alberta College of Social Workers, the Edmonton Social Planning Council and Public Interest Alberta.

According to the report, one in six (160,000) children in Alberta experience the effects of childhood poverty. Children in single parent households are more likely to experience poverty, with almost 50 per cent (95,000) living below the 2018 low-income threshold.

The COVID-19 pandemic increased unemployment to a record high of 15.7 per cent in June 2020. This increased food insecurity, and the inability to consume an adequate daily diet quality or quantity, by seven per cent, and for households with children, by 19.6 per cent, explained Sandra Ngo, research coordinator for the Edmonton Social Planning Council, in a news release.

“That’s nearly one in five Canadians who can’t always afford healthy nutritious food for themselves and their families,” said Ngo. “It is clear that these bleak employment numbers have wreaked havoc on the ability for families to provide for their children.”

But family and child poverty are not solely due to the pandemic, Ngo added. “If anything, this crisis is shining a spotlight on already-existing problems. COVID-19 has exposed deficits in how our society has cared for the most vulnerable experiencing poverty.”

Also highlighted is the impact of poverty on Indigenous children who are affected due to experiences of systemic racism, cultural oppression and marginalization, according to the report. While poverty affects various families and communities differently, common issues include infringement of human rights, access to drinking water, and insufficient education, mental health and health care services, especially for those living on reserve, it stated. One in five First Nations children on reserves live in substandard and overcrowded housing, based on Statistics Canada data cited by the report.

Child poverty is not limited to urban settings. Rural families are affected too, and face additional struggles accessing basic needs and resources due to distances from major metropolitan centres. While homelessness still exists in rural areas, it often manifests differently than in urban areas.

The reduction of child poverty should be at the forefront of plans for economic recovery, said Ajay Hartenfeld Pandhi, president of the Alberta College of Social Workers.

“As both the federal and provincial governments make plans for an economic recovery, they need to remember that implementing strategies to end child poverty is an investment into healthier families and communities, not a cost,” said Pandhi. “We know that without equitable, public services and support available for all children in Alberta, there will continue to be generational impacts of childhood poverty. Investing upstream in poverty reduction mitigates downstream costs and is good for all of us.”