In 2018, First Call BC issued their annual Child Poverty Report Card for the year 2016. The results show one in five children and youth are growing up in poverty in B.C. The report recommendations federal and provincial government commitments be ambitious and fully funded to ensure poverty reduction targets are met or, preferably, exceeded. More focused efforts should be made to achieve major reductions in poverty levels for children at greater risk, such as recent immigrants and refugees, Indigenous children, children of female lone-parent families, children in racialized families, children affected by disabilities, youth transitioning out of government care and LGBTQ2SAI+ youth.
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Tax Fairness and Income Support
Recommendation 1: The provincial government should increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour and make sure all workers in BC are covered by the minimum wage by the end of 2019, and index it annually to the cost of living.-
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Tax Fairness and Income Support
Recommendation 2: Governments at all levels should ensure their direct and contract employees are paid a living wage that allows them to meet their basic needs, properly support their children and avoid chronic financial stress.-
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Tax Fairness and Income Support
Recommendation 3: The provincial government should significantly raise income and disability assistance rates to bring them in line with actual living expenses and index them to inflation.-
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Tax Fairness and Income Support
Recommendation 4: The provincial government should redesign the BC Early Childhood Tax Benefit into a BC Child Benefit covering children under 18, double the maximum benefit to $1,320 per child per year and index it annually to the cost of living.-
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Tax Fairness and Income Support
Recommendation 5: The federal government should ensure the Canada Child Benefit, in combination with other income measures, raises all families with children above the CFLIM after-tax poverty lines calculated through taxfiler data and ensure access to the benefit for families in groups with higher rates of poverty-
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Tax Fairness and Income Support
Recommendation 6: The federal government should ensure maternity and parental leave benefits are universally available to all new parents (regardless of work status) and that the benefit levels are not less than the CFLIM after-tax poverty lines.-
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Tax Fairness and Income Support
Recommendation 7: The federal government should enhance Employment Insurance to expand access, duration and levels of benefits to prevent and reduce child and family poverty.-
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Tax Fairness and Income Support
Recommendation 8: The provincial and federal governments should address growing income inequality by continuing efforts to increase fairness in the personal income taxation system and re-introducing the principle of taxation based on ability to pay.-
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Targeted Initiatives for Groups Over Represented in Poverty Data
Recommendation 9: Collaborate with First Nations, Métis and Inuit governments and Indigenous organizations to develop plans to prevent, reduce and eradicate child and family poverty in Indigenous communities. Comply with the rulings of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal by providing adequate funding for child welfare services on reserve and ensure the full application of Jordan’s Principle for First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.-
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Targeted Initiatives for Groups Over Represented in Poverty Data
Recommendation 10: The provincial government should expand the post-secondary program options eligible for support under the Single Parent Employment Initiative and, in the absence of enhancements to BC’s refundable post-secondary grants, allow all those on income assistance to retain benefits while attending a post-secondary institution.-
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