“We need the CCPA to remind us that our dreams of a decent, egalitarian society are reasonable — indeed that with a little work, they are practical. And I love that practicality, that protection of the dream of the possible.”
— Naomi Klein
The Social Policy Research Unit at the University of Regina has just released its report card on child and family poverty in the province. Paul Gingrich and Fiona Douglas - the study's authors - report some troubling findings:
• In 2007, there were 35,000 (16.7%) children under age 18 living beneath the poverty line (before-tax Low Income Cut-off) in Saskatchewan.
• Saskatchewan has the third highest provincial child poverty rate.
• 45% of Aboriginal children live in low-income families.
• More than one in three immigrant children are poor.
• 20% of children spent three or more years in poverty, exceeding the national average of 15%.
• One-third of poor children live in families with full-time, full-year employment.
For more details, view the full report here.
For more details on income inequality in Saskatchewan, view the CCPA's "Boom and Bust: The Growing Income Gap in Saskatchewan," here.
