[Note that Canadian poverty cut-offs are incredibly more appropriate than those
in the USA]

Jul. 29, 05:19 EDT
  Children are poverty's greatest victims: report

  OTTAWA (CP)



? Children are the main victims of long-term poverty in Canada,
according to the latest statistics
  compiled by the National Council of Welfare, with nearly one in five kids
living in poor homes in 1999.

  For the third straight year, the number of poor people in Canada dropped
slightly in 1999 but there were still 4.9 million
  Canadians living under the poverty line, according to the council ? an
independent body that advises the minister of
  Human Resources Development Canada.

  The council said it was especially alarmed at the figures, provided by
Statistics Canada, on long-term poverty over a
  six-year period from 1993 to 1998. The highest rate for chronic poverty was
among pre-school children.

  "How do six-year olds who have spent all those critical developmental years in
poverty have a fair chance in life," asked  Allyce Herle, acting chair of the
council.

  "It is very hard for me to understand how Canadian governments and citizens
tolerate this. We only pretend we value our   children."

  Herle called on political leaders, including the premiers who meet Wednesday
in Halifax, to re-examine the country's
  social safety net.

  "Our patchwork system of social programs is clearly not doing what it takes to
seriously address the causes and
  consequences of poverty," she said.

  The report also found:

  ? Women were more likely to be poor than men, with poverty rates ranging from
nine per cent higher for singles to 34
  per cent higher for single parents.

  ? Single-parent mothers with no high school diploma had the highest poverty
rate at 82.3 per cent.

  ? Forty-nine per cent of off-reserve aboriginals lived in poverty for at least
one year between 1993 and 1998,
  compared with about 30 per cent of all Canadians.

  ? Nearly 43 per cent of immigrant visible minorities lived in poverty for at
least one year between 1993 and 1998.

  The report said the number of families and individuals living in poverty fell
by 0.7 per cent in 1999, but the decrease didn't  keep pace with Canada's
economic growth rate of nearly 5 per cent over that same 1998-99 period.

  "From the council's perspective this reflects stagnation at best rather than
any real progress," said Herle.

  "Our economic prosperity should have helped many more Canadians escape or
avert poverty, including senior women   living alone whose already-high poverty
rate actually worsened in 1999."

  The group used Statistics Canada figures for low-income families (pre-tax) as
its poverty threshold. For example, a single   person living in a big city and
earning less than $17,886 was considered poor. For a family of four in a big
city, the cutoff   was $33,658.

  Herle urged the federal and provincial governments to increase minimum wage,
improve child care and find more
  affordable housing.

  "Many low-income jobs are non-standard hours," she noted.

  "If you're working at a Burger King or (if) you're working as a hotel clerk,
you are not working a 9-to-5 job. You need
  childcare that covers you from 11 to seven, through the night. And that simply
is not available."

  The council said it is concerned the fight against poverty has been slipping
off the public agenda in Canada and that it will   be more costly to remedy
future problems than to invest wisely now.

  "In contrast, European countries, faced with immediate concerns over how to
pay the pension costs of an aging
  population, are looking to the future and placing children, women and social
inclusion high on the agenda," the council
  said.