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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 4, 2002
Child Hunger Increasing in Canada as Gap Widens Between
Haves and Have-nots, CCSD Report Concludes
OTTAWA – The number of Canadian children going hungry is on the rise and shows no sign of letting up, according to a report by the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD). The Progress of Canada’s Children 2002 says that approximately 75,000 families with children under the age of 12 reported being hungry in 1996 (the last year for which data are available) – an increase of one-third from 1994.
This trend is reinforced by a report released last month by the Canadian Association of Food Banks which shows a 12.5% increase in food bank usage in Canada since 1996. More than 300,000 children relied on donated food in March 2002, almost half of food bank recipients.
Moreover, a National Population Health Survey done in 1998/99 revealed that Canadian children under 17 were the age group most likely to live in food-insecure households where there isn’t enough money to buy sufficient food or the right kinds of food.
The statistics on hunger offer the most disturbing glimpse into the deteriorating living conditions of many Canadian children documented in the CCSD’s sixth annual report. They are key indicators of persistent poverty in Canada and are directly linked to poor academic performance. Progress looks at how Canadian children from different economic backgrounds have been faring in subjects such as reading, writing, math and science. The study found that of those children doing well at school, nearly one in two had never experienced poverty, while one in three had been persistently poor.
"Despite the economic boom of the mid to late 1990s, too many Canadian families and their children are barely scraping by and are just one problem away from economic disaster," says Louise Hanvey, senior researcher at the CCSD and author of the report. "The fact that so many kids are heading off to school on empty stomachs is not the reality one expects to see in a G-7 country like Canada that is consistently ranked among the best places in the world in which to live."
Progress illustrates that families struggle when they live in persistent poverty and that takes a heavy toll on their children. For example, the report reveals that families living in persistent poverty are three times as likely to have a parent suffering from depression, and parental depression can have a profoundly negative impact on a child’s well-being.
The despair and anxiety resulting from persistent poverty may well contribute to the record rate of child runaways in Canada – more than 50,000 in the year 2000 – and the rising number of children being placed in foster care – up by more than 5,000 children between 1995 and 2000 in Ontario alone.
"What’s especially disturbing is the steady erosion of the support system or social infrastructure that
low-income families used to rely on," says Marcel Lauzière, President of the CCSD. "Just as our physical infrastructure, our bridges and roads are crumbling, so too are the key pillars of our social infrastructure which are essential if our poor children are to have a fighting chance in life."
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For further information, contact Janet Creery, Communications Officer, CCSD at (613) 236-8977, ext. 228 or via e-mail at media@ccsd.ca. The report highlights and media materials are available on-line at www.ccsd.ca/pubs/2002/pcc02/.
The CCSD is an independent, non-profit research-based organization dedicated to improving the social and economic security of Canadians. Led by a national, voluntary Board of Directors, the Council’s members share a commitment to improving the lives of Canadians.
The Progress of Canada's Children 2002 - Related Material
Canadian Council on Social Development,
190 O'Connor Street, Suite 100,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2R3
Tel: (613) 236-8977, Fax: (613) 236-2750, Web: www.ccsd.ca, Email: council@ccsd.ca
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