Children & youth

The case for exempting child support from welfare

Jul 20, 2012
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Based on recent announcements, it seems that the Ministry of Social Development is in the mood to address some of the long-standing problems within BC’s welfare system (although welfare rates remain distressingly low). Seth Klein recently recapped the Ministry’s June 11th announcement, which set out almost 30 proposed changes to the system. More recently, the… View Article

Seven reasons why you should support a move to low tuition fees for higher education

May 29, 2012
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Much of the media coverage of the Quebec student protests has dismissed the protestors as cranky middle and upper-middle class children trying to protect their unfair privilege. And in fact, the vast majority of today’s university students do come from relatively well-off families. But rather than weakening their position, this supports the protestors’ claims that… View Article

Poverty Reduction: Even Alberta joins the fold. When will BC?

Apr 29, 2012
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With Alison Redford’s big re-election as Alberta premier last week, Alberta will now join the ranks of provinces with a comprehensive poverty reduction plan. This will leave BC and Saskatchewan as the only jurisdictions in Canada without a provincial or territorial plan. The Alberta plan may prove to be the most ambitious to date. On… View Article

Christy Clark, George Abbott – meet Jeffrey Moore

Mar 14, 2012
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There’s a freight train heading for BC’s education system — and it’s not being driven by government or teachers. This train hit the tracks long before the current collective bargaining dispute. Its operator is an eight-year-old boy from North Vancouver, named Jeffrey Moore. With the support of his family, Jeffrey is driving a human rights… View Article

Slim pickin’s for BC’s children and youth in budget

Mar 2, 2012
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Just in case anyone missed just how bad BC’s new budget is for the province’s children and youth, I thought I’d post First Call’s reaction from our news release:  CHILDREN AND YOUTH GET SLIM PICKINGS IN BUDGET 2012 It notes that Finance Minister Falcon talks of fiscal prudence, but the budget’s failure to invest in the… View Article

BC poverty rates highest in Canada, again

Jun 15, 2011
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Statistics Canada released a report today on incomes across Canada in 2009. As First Call BC points out in their news release, key points for BC include: BC’s child poverty rate rose to 12 percent in 2009, the highest child poverty rate of any province for the eighth year in a row. The BC rate… View Article

Social Determinants of Health

Jun 7, 2011
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It is now clear that economic, and social variables – more than individual behaviour – are the most salient factors in determining people’s well-being. Working and living conditions, the distribution of wealth, and where we live are some of , “the primary factors that shape the health of Canadians” (CCPA Monitor, June 2010). Almost everything… View Article

Thousands more millionaires in Canada

May 10, 2011
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In case you were worried, the Financial Post reports that “new wealth” will continue to be generated in Canada and be one of the developed countries to “have some of the biggest concentrations of millionaire households by 2020.”    I’m feeling so relieved, aren’t you? A Deloitte LLP report predicts that 2.4 million households in Canada will… View Article

Missing the Vote: Democratic Reform in BC

Dec 16, 2010
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I’ve long thought that we should lower the voting age to 16, so thanks to Mike deJong for raising it in the BC Liberal leadership campaign. I speak from some experience, as I voted shortly after I turned 17 in the Ontario provincial election. I was a frosh in residence at Western and no one… View Article

UNICEF shames Canada for inequality among children

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In an earlier blog Shannon Daub reported on Mark Milke’s assertion that inequality was a lot of humbug.  UNICEF has published a report that shows that it is children who bear the burden of inequality and that children are not to blame for it.  When many of us think about UNICEF we think of an… View Article