Notes From Day Seven: Reducing child poverty
According to the Conference Board of
Canada, our country has the third worst child
poverty rate of 17 “peer countries.” These
are affluent countries where there are fewer
reasons for children to be poor than in, say,
Liberia or Colombia.
Based on this information, we could blame political leaders for not doing more to reduce child poverty. Demanding stronger anti-poverty policies becomes even more tempting when one takes into consideration that in 1989 the House of Commons unanimously voted to end child poverty by 2000. (It is difficult to imagine any Member of Parliament voting against such a commitment and perhaps some votes were cast by members who realized that words are cheap.)
Recently many Canadians have criticized our country's industry minister, James Moore, for saying that the federal government will not take more responsibility with respect to child poverty. He says that it is up to the provinces to do that. On News1130.com, people have posted comments noting that we all need to be engaged in “treating each other as we would want to be treated,” and we are all “keepers of our brothers.” These quotations from the Bible are not new to many.
Moore's comment raises the question, who should take action to end child poverty? We should ask this without falling into a common trap, the trap of blaming others without some self-examination.
And actually, we can take the question to another level: What is it each of us can do?
The federal government will likely say that the main thing it can do is to create an economy that generates new jobs. A healthy, job-creating economy makes an enormous contribution to the elimination of child (and all other kinds of) poverty. Therefore, let efforts to create good long-term jobs for Canadians receive the credit that is due.
Other levels of government also make their contributions to the creation of jobs. Besides that, there are many programs that reduce child poverty. The greatest of these is the public education system.
Families and individuals can make contributions that may be even more important. Some of my thoughts in this area come from knowing educators and from helping with a church-run children's breakfast program in a nearby elementary school.
Churches, schools and other institutions that serve children can partner together to feed children, or help in other ways. Food banks can provide food for the families of kids who are having trouble making ends meet. Organizations such as Habitat for Humanity can continue to make homes available to families who would not be able to pay a conventional bank mortgage.
The Habitat example brings me to my last point. One of the greatest things we can do to reduce child poverty is to teach responsibility. Habitat does that. One does not simply receive the home. The recipient helps workers build it and then repays an interest-free loan.
Children too must be taught by parents and guardians to take responsibility for their financial and physical needs. Here is where a service like a breakfast program needs a community of responsible parents to make it work well. Children who are in genuine need should receive help. But the parents of children who are not in need should be making sure that their children do not accept food meant for those who arrive at school hungry.
An educator told me that her high school provides a food pantry for students in that situation. However, some students take advantage of the pantry for trivial reasons. A student only has to say, “I'm hungry,” to be given a box of crackers or cookies to eat in the resource room. A good portion of the requests come from students who live in affluent families.
Child poverty is an issue of responsibility. We all need to take responsibility to help those who need food, financial help, and mental and physical health care — especially when those in need are children. At the same time, we all need to teach and model responsible behaviour for the children coming up behind us. If they do not receive encouragement and instruction to be responsible, child poverty will cycle onward. If we do what we can toward those ends, we might find ourselves somewhere above 15th place next time the Conference Board of Canada examines international child poverty statistics.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Based on this information, we could blame political leaders for not doing more to reduce child poverty. Demanding stronger anti-poverty policies becomes even more tempting when one takes into consideration that in 1989 the House of Commons unanimously voted to end child poverty by 2000. (It is difficult to imagine any Member of Parliament voting against such a commitment and perhaps some votes were cast by members who realized that words are cheap.)
Recently many Canadians have criticized our country's industry minister, James Moore, for saying that the federal government will not take more responsibility with respect to child poverty. He says that it is up to the provinces to do that. On News1130.com, people have posted comments noting that we all need to be engaged in “treating each other as we would want to be treated,” and we are all “keepers of our brothers.” These quotations from the Bible are not new to many.
Moore's comment raises the question, who should take action to end child poverty? We should ask this without falling into a common trap, the trap of blaming others without some self-examination.
And actually, we can take the question to another level: What is it each of us can do?
The federal government will likely say that the main thing it can do is to create an economy that generates new jobs. A healthy, job-creating economy makes an enormous contribution to the elimination of child (and all other kinds of) poverty. Therefore, let efforts to create good long-term jobs for Canadians receive the credit that is due.
Other levels of government also make their contributions to the creation of jobs. Besides that, there are many programs that reduce child poverty. The greatest of these is the public education system.
Families and individuals can make contributions that may be even more important. Some of my thoughts in this area come from knowing educators and from helping with a church-run children's breakfast program in a nearby elementary school.
Churches, schools and other institutions that serve children can partner together to feed children, or help in other ways. Food banks can provide food for the families of kids who are having trouble making ends meet. Organizations such as Habitat for Humanity can continue to make homes available to families who would not be able to pay a conventional bank mortgage.
The Habitat example brings me to my last point. One of the greatest things we can do to reduce child poverty is to teach responsibility. Habitat does that. One does not simply receive the home. The recipient helps workers build it and then repays an interest-free loan.
Children too must be taught by parents and guardians to take responsibility for their financial and physical needs. Here is where a service like a breakfast program needs a community of responsible parents to make it work well. Children who are in genuine need should receive help. But the parents of children who are not in need should be making sure that their children do not accept food meant for those who arrive at school hungry.
An educator told me that her high school provides a food pantry for students in that situation. However, some students take advantage of the pantry for trivial reasons. A student only has to say, “I'm hungry,” to be given a box of crackers or cookies to eat in the resource room. A good portion of the requests come from students who live in affluent families.
Child poverty is an issue of responsibility. We all need to take responsibility to help those who need food, financial help, and mental and physical health care — especially when those in need are children. At the same time, we all need to teach and model responsible behaviour for the children coming up behind us. If they do not receive encouragement and instruction to be responsible, child poverty will cycle onward. If we do what we can toward those ends, we might find ourselves somewhere above 15th place next time the Conference Board of Canada examines international child poverty statistics.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
