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December 8, 1997
The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien
Prime Minister of Canada
Langevin Block
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister:
Tomorrow, the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) will publicly release The Progress of Canada's Children 1997. We are pleased to send you this advance copy of the report.
We want to alert you that the report shows that stresses on Canadian children and youth are rising, at the same time as our investment in children is declining. Coming on the eve of the First Ministers' Conference, and given the priority areas that will be under discussion at your meetings, there is much in this report that we hope you will take into consideration.
In particular, our research shows the following:
Youth employment
Young people with university degrees have had much lower rates of unemployment over the last decade than those with less education. But the skyrocketing costs of university tuition are threatening access to post-secondary education, particularly for students from lower-income households. Health care
Thanks to publicly funded health care, Canadian children from all income groups make the same average number of visits to family practitioners and pediatricians. However, the lack of publicly funded dental care in many provinces means that children from low-income families visit dentists less frequently than children from higher-income families. As well, the report found that two-thirds of Canadian children are not active enough for their optimal health and development. The cost of participating in recreational and physical activities is a major barrier for many children from low- and modest-income families. And, asthma rates among children have doubled in the past 15 years, largely due to declining indoor and outdoor air quality. -
Social policy renewal
Child welfare agencies report rising caseloads, but stagnant or declining budgets. Child-care costs have also increased, but average family income continues to fall, and the rate of child poverty has gone up dramatically.
These are only a few of the many findings in The Progress of Canada's Children 1997. We hope you will find this report useful.
Sincerely,
Charles Birchall
President of the Board
Canadian Council on Social Development
c.c.
Provincial Premiers
The Honourable Allan Rock, Minister of Health
The Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice
The Honourable Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of Human Resources Development
Provincial Ministers of Health, Education, Social Services
The Progress of Canada's Children 1997 - Related Material
Canadian Council on Social Development,
309 Cooper Street, 5th Floor,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0G5
Tel: (613) 236-8977, Fax: (613) 236-2750, Web: www.ccsd.ca, Email: council@ccsd.ca
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