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Toronto Star

 Dec. 24, 2003. 01:00 AM

 Ending child poverty a religious duty

 JAVED AKBAR, RABBI ARTHUR BIELFELD AND REV. LILLIAN PERIGOE

 The central message of Christianity, Judaism and Islam is the sacred duty
to care for the most vulnerable among us.

 At Christmas tomorrow, Christians contemplate the simple, enduring and
central fact of this religious holiday: that the Messiah
 celebrated by Christians arrived in the world as a poor and helpless
child, among an oppressed people, born in a stable. He
 was utterly defenceless and powerless. Like all infants, Jesus would not
have survived a day without the most basic nurture and
 care.

 At the centre of the Festival of Chanukah is a celebration of the weak
over the powerful. And the seminal moment of the
 Passover Seder occurs at the beginning of the meal, when the leader calls
out the words, "Let all who are hungry come and
 eat."

 The Prophet Muhammad declared, "No one can call himself a believer while
he eats his fill and his neighbour goes hungry."

 Of course, the most basic responsibility for child care belongs to parents
and families, who typically make tremendous sacrifices
 for the sake of their children.

 However, we are united by our duty to remind Canadians, whether or not
they have a formal religious affiliation, of the
 collective responsibility we share for the most vulnerable among us ?
particularly our children.

 That is why we participate in the Campaign Against Child Poverty. The
fight against child poverty can easily be justified on
 economic and utilitarian grounds; but it is also a struggle with profound
ethical and spiritual dimensions.

 On Nov. 24, 1989, the House of Commons voted unanimously to establish a
national goal of eliminating child poverty by the
 year 2000.

 While MPs may have supported the resolution for a variety of reasons ?
political expediency and party discipline, for example
 ? we have no doubt the vast majority of them were motivated by ethical,
spiritual and religious teachings.

 Prime Minister Paul Martin is not a man who speaks publicly about the
spiritual and religious foundations of public policy.

 Nevertheless, it is not difficult to detect an ethical and religious basis
for some of his key statements. His leadership victory
 manifesto, Making History: The Politics Of Achievement, contains the
following simple sentence: "Let us resolve to measure
 our progress by the standard we set for the least privileged among us."

 We agree that this is a reasonable and ethically sound barometer of our
progress as a country.

 Unfortunately, when we apply this test, the results prove that Canada's
commitment to poor children is inadequate.

 When the Commons made its historic commitment 14 years ago, 14.9 per cent
of Canadian children were poor.

 By 2001, that figure had risen to 15.6 per cent (itself a reduction from
higher levels in the mid-1990s.)

 Significantly higher rates of child poverty among aboriginals, visible
minorities, immigrants and those with disabilities are a
 profound threat to our cohesion as a national community. Within our own
cities and towns ? particularly in large urban areas
 ? poverty is increasingly concentrated in certain high-needs
neighbourhoods.

 Child poverty is pervasive, and it is stubborn.

 The Canada Child Tax Benefit is currently scheduled to rise to a maximum
of $3,243 by 2007. This is good news. But the
 amount will have to be raised to at least $4,900 to provide an adequate
income for families.

 Ending the practice of "clawing back" this benefit from social assistance
recipients would help to bolster family income security.
 (Premier Dalton McGuinty has promised us that this practice will end in
Ontario.)

 The Canadian system of early childhood education and care is laughable, by
international standards. More than 70 per cent of
 young children in Canada have mothers in the paid labour force, yet only
12 per cent of children up to age 12 have access to
 regulated child-care spaces.

 In their most important and formative years, we entrust the vast majority
of our children to an uncoordinated patchwork of ad
 hoc arrangements for care. This must end.

 There has been some progress on this issue; the last federal budget
contained a modest commitment for early learning and care
 over the next five years. But we need a vision of a pan-Canadian, publicly
funded system of early learning and care that is
 supported by governments at all levels.

 There is an affordable housing crisis in Canada. Higher vacancy rates in
many Canadian cities have generally not translated into
 more affordable housing. We need governments to renew their historic
support for the construction and renewal of affordable
 housing. (The 1991 Liberal caucus housing report chaired by Martin would
be a good start.)

 Child poverty is not inevitable. It is a product of the choices we
collectively make about the allocation of resources in our
 society, and about the tools we use to address the needs of children and
their families.

 We urge the new governments now in place at all levels to fight vigorously
to end child poverty once and for all.

 During the holiday season, many of us are committed to contributing to the
well being of families in distress. In 2004, we hope
 that such a personal commitment will be supplemented by an ethical
reappraisal of the public decisions that contribute to child
 poverty.


 Javed Akbar (Pickering Islamic Centre), Rabbi Arthur Bielfeld (Temple
Emanu-El) and the Rev. Lillian Perigoe
 (The United Church of Canada) are members of the steering committee of the
Campaign Against Child Poverty.

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