Updated: Wed Apr. 01 2009 07:45:50

ctvbc.ca

Josephine Watson is a single mom who brings in about $2,000 a month -- and half of that goes to feed her three teenage boys.

There's not much left for other essentials. Even though the boys try to pull their weight with a paper route, it's nearly impossible to make ends meet.

"We notice when our mom is stressed and everything affects us," said Josehpine's son Matt. "We are living through a hard time."

Her children are part of a troubling statistic for the province: B.C. has the highest child poverty rate in Canada.

Sixteen per cent of children in this province live beneath the poverty line. That's despite success in other provinces that have brought their rates down.

In Alberta in 1997, the child poverty rate was 15 per cent -- and now it's been cut in half. In 2006, the rate was 7 per cent. But B.C.'s child poverty rate has stayed stubbornly high.

Experts say that this is dangerous -- if a child doesn't get the nutrition he needs in the early years, he'll grow up not being able to learn well and not healthy. That can cost our health care system in the future.

That's no surprise to those who help the poor every day. Many of those relying on food banks are children.

"I go to the food bank to replenish my food every two weeks," said one patron, who gave her name as Lana. "It keeps us in a safe spot in my head and in my heart."

Why does B.C.'s child poverty rate remain so high? Many social groups say one reason is our minimum wage.

Eight dollars an hour was the highest minimum wage in the country in 2001. Since then, other provinces have moved beyond that. Now, B.C. has the second lowest wage in the country.

Only New Brunswick's is lower now but the government there plans to up it to $8.25 by the fall -- leaving B.C.'s minimum wage workers at the bottom.

Watson makes more than minimum wage, but paying the bills is still a struggle, and she worries about her mounting debt.

"I feel like I will not get out of this situation while my kids are still living with me, which is pretty sad and hopeless, and I try not to feel depressed," she said.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Mi-Jung Lee

Comments are now closed for this story

S, Vaughan
Instead of asking for more money to the minimum wage which will affect all businesses which are struggling it would be better to give food stamps for children that can be used at any supermarket.

kendall
wow and yet the feds give BILLIONS to the auto workers, and forget the about the most important resourse we have, our youth.
Oh ya I forgot we are the West , we dont matter cause we are not from Ont, or Que.
Maybe its time to form our own country

Robert in Vancouver
years and years of NDP and Liberal govt's have only lead to this. typical left wing approach just doesn't work.

"Part of the fading Middle-Class"
Sadly this has been ongoing for a few years now, government's like what we are living with in this province at the present time have since the early eighty's been on a relentless mission to eradicate the middle class. Due to their policy's toward's trade union's, the labour code tinkering to minimise worker's right's the average worker's wages have gone nowhere's in the last 20 to 30 year's. As a 60 year old worker in this province I have seen my wage's and standard of living go downhill since about 1985. As hard as I may try it has been almost impossible to put anything away for retirment for myself and my wife. I truly hope I live long enough to see the eventual backlash to this crap of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer!!

Sandra Wilson
I am a single mom of two boys, I am yet another to Today I was informed by The Ministry of Assistance that if I was to recieve an emergancy check to cover my rent, when my EI came through the benefits would go to welfare as the money I may receive from them would be a loan. This would then leave me in the same spot next month that I am in now-if I don't find work. So, what I am wondering is if the infrastructures are there to help, why is my family not getting it.

Willy from the West
So, thank you again Gordon Campbell and Liberals and all those who elected them. Same results as with homelessness. I guess we know how much you all care.

Disgusted and ashamed
This is why every time I hear Gordon Campbell go on about how wonderful our economy is here in BC, while he does nothing but WORSEN our child poverty rate I feel sick
to my stomach!
How does that man sleep at night?

Luba Jacobson - Vernon, BC 250-549-1196
My husband and i have been together for 20 years and have 3 kids of our own. we have also taken in a few kids that did not have homes.
2007 i became sick, i was unable to walk far do to vascular disease. September 2007 i had a below the knee amputation, and at the same time lost my babysitting job. We tried to get me put on disablity but was unsuccessful. After running through all our savings and my small inheritance we tried to go to welfare for help, they told us that we were uneligible. So there has been many days when our children had to go hungry. This January/February we lost our gas, hydro and cable, and in December we lost our phone we could not keep a roof over our head and keep the utilities on. We went to welfare yet again to get help they paid our rent, hydro and gas bills, but i still did not get the phone or cable paid for.But we must pay every penny back to them, which i don't think we will ever have. Our biggest problem is that I am in a wheelchair or confined to my chair or bed and without phone and cable had no contact with anyone even though our neighbors are 2 steps over. The worker that we had this time said that we are eligiable for welfare (social assistance)and have been since the day I got sick, yet they told us we were not. I have since been put on welfare medical to alieve some our bills but its hard to feed our kids and give them what they need. Once again I have applied for disability welfare and am hoping to get it soon. thanks for reading this. Luba Jacobson - Vernon BC.

withheld
I absolutely do not believe that child poverty has remained the same during the last decade. There have been so many cut backs to services for women and children that have directly impacted their lives. Also, this story did not portray 'poverty' although I understand this woman is struggling to make ends meet.

RC
Hey don’t be too hard on your self, we are trying to house most of the homeless in this country, we will get to the children as soon as we can!

And that’s a joke in it self, this countries biggest chunk of homeless live in the most beautiful part of the country. And to boot we have the biggest child poverty in the country.

But we’re going to house the homeless?

While we let the children go hungry?

daaa….. turn up the air conditioner and pick me up a six pack on the way home from the welfare office will ya Marge.

Please someone tell me, where dooooo the poor people live?

And while we’re on jokes, How bout them thumpers eh Vern?

“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God”

I guess they should have made that, one of the commandments.

#11 Though shalt not let thy children starve.

We should be ashamed!!!

I have no God, and I’m ashamed!

But not to worry folks, as soon as the government has video on every corner and wire taps on every phone, they will be getting to the sterilization solution as quickly as humanly possible.

They feel pretty sure that will cut down on the poverty in this City.

And if not……..

Well now that’s another story isn’t it.

Sean in Vancouver-Langara
Oh well, at least we get to host the 2010 Winter Olympics!

What is our slogan, btw? Isn't it "THE BEST PLACE ON EARTH!"

News like this, makes one proud of BC, doesn't it?

James
These rates of poverty have worsened with the Liberals, proving that the trickle-down theory does not work for the vulnerable and under-priveledged in our society. Shame on Gordo!

schpid
It's called planned parenthood. If you have a crap job don't have three kids. If there is an absent father then the law should be enforced. It's all about education and personal choice. Just because it's easier to buy MacDonalds and feed your kids pop all day doesn't mean it's good for them. I used to work a crap job but with proper meal planning I ate very healthy.
That being siad I also agree that the minimum wage should be raised but so too should the expectations of the employer that the person "earning" that money does so and shows up to work each and every day. The level of professionalism and work ethic here in Victoria in the service industry is deplorable.

Rich
A glaring fact in this story is the "single mother" point. Nothing against the individual in the story here but it takes 2 to copulate and bring forth a baby. The other party needs to come forward and foot the bill to raise the child as well.

David
You can thank our current government. Mr. Campbell is more concerned about the Olympics than he is about the less fortunate in our province. A very sad situation.

Concerned Canadian
This is a consequence of Liberal government policies around sociallservices in general. Money that used to go to health, education and welfare has been used over the last 5 years to balance the budget. This may please taxpayers, but ultimately it is both an economically and socially regressive policy. Taxpayers 20 years from now will discover that they have even higher costs for dealing with the consequences of these short-term, politically-motivated plans.

All of this is attributable to a particular economic theory, the Chicago School of Economics, based on Milton Friedman's ideas. Mr. Campbell's government in B.C. has been following the same kind of economic theory of unrestricted capitalism that ultimately destroyed the economies of Chile, Argentina, Uraguay, South Africa, Russia...and now the U.S.

These economies went through massive restructuring away from developmental models to hyper capitalist models. The first step was privatization of all public services, followed by massive cuts to taxes and social welfare programs. The promise was that so much wealth would be generated that social services would eventually not be necessary, thanks to Reaganomic "trickle down".

It never happened. But ten of thousands of rich people became vastly more wealthy at the cost of the impoverishment of millions of others, a trend we see continuing around the world today.

Until we realize that investment in social services is actually not only the ethically responsible thing to do, but also more economically viable, we will end up cleaning up the mess created by Neo-liberalism and governments like Mr. Campbell's.

Yet millions of right-wing thinkers continue to vote for policies and governments that cause more problems than they solve. Even now they call for even more capitalism to get us out of the crisis that unrestricted capitalism has caused.

Go figure. Please.

Nancy- Failed Liberal Social Programs a Waste
Liberal programs over the years on poverty never work.
That said, poverty is defined by an average and as the average goes up so does the poverty line so it will never be gone. Poverty means you have a good home, health care, education food etc. but not a new car.

Char
Uggh please people we are all a walking a tight line these days. I have a career and own my own condo I am also a single mother getting Child support from my ex husband. Everything is great. HOWEVER, I know it is a fine line to walk and it wouldn't take very much ie the loss of my job or layoff to send my situation spiralling into one like the lady mentioned in the story. NO one is ever 100% safe and it would be nice to know that if I did need a minum wage job that minimum wage was higher and that there was actually SOME affordable housing in BC. There is NO decent affordable housing and minimum wage DOES suck. Our whole system is embarrasing.

christine from the west
$2000 a month and feeding three teenage kids. I think that if you were spending your money more effectively, you can still live, and manage to save for a small weekend vacation every year. For many single moms, $2000 a month with three teenage kids is considered a luxury. You should be ashamed for going to the food bank every two weeks, and taking food from people who really need it, Lana. $2000 a month can feed and house a family with three or four teenage children and grandparents. Maybe they may not be having a lot of luxuries, but they are eating full meals of healthy food and living in a comfortable home. Look around and see where you can be more efficient with your money.

GMan
Why are people blaming the government or Gordon Campbell for the lack of family planning?

If you're not making enough money to even feed yourself, maybe you shouldn't have children.

Doug BC
Ah! You've got to love the partisan spin.In truth,no one like poverty.We all would love to see an end to it.The only area of debate is HOW we put an end to it.
Left wingers think you fight poverty by sending out more cheques to people who don't make good decisions for themselves.Cheques that are written on the accounts of those who actually do take some responsibility for their lives.But what they omit from their propoganda is the fact that the middle class workers are paying those bills,and getting poorer thamselves with every new tax.
Right wingers take the position that a job has to be a part of the fight against poverty.Only the elderly,the disabled,and children in school have an excuse not to contribute something towards their own welfare.
"There is no "free'.If you got a service for which you did not work,somewhere else there is a person who worked for a service he/she did not receive.
I don't know where "Concerned Canadian" lives,but he either has a very short memeory,or lives somewhere other than BC.We went to the left by electing the NDP.And,every time we did they left the province in shambles.
I don't like Campbell very much either.And,I would gladly vote for someone else if there was a sensible option on the ballot.
"Concerned Canadian" needs to know that,as a middle class tradesperson,I think paying over 50% of my earnings for taxes is more than enough.And,the way social services work in our economy,most are a net cost to me.Not an investment.And social services comsume,by far,most of BC's budget expenditures.If we want to spend more,we either have to earn more,or take more from the middle class by taxing even more.
Go figure.

lilly
this story does not make sense Mi-Jung lee says that BC takes care of its children, that it is a "no brainer"
I hear this all the time on the radio, so naturally it must be true.

Concerned Canadian
Doug in B.C.

Sorry Doug- you just don't get it. I could spend this entire post correcting your errors in understanding, but let's just pick a few of the more obvious.

Doug, single mom's on welfare are not there because they chose to be there. They are not "freeloaders" who are just looking for a handout. They didn't get pregnant deliberately so they could live off welfare.

Blaming them for their plight demonstrates the lie behind the right wing claims to moral superiority and compassion.

They are often the products of failed marriages, or lost jobs. Ironically, the right rants about abortion, but then refuses to help young women who have had children they find themselves unable to support. Make up your minds.

Nor does the left not believe that jobs are part of the solution to this problem. But we realize that the failures of the economic system are passed down the food chain until they come to rest on the most vulnerable people- unwed mothers, the sick and the elderly. And we recognize that we all have an obligation to help out our neighbours. That's what being part of a society entails. It's not just about you and your taxes, Doug.


But you're right about one thing- there is no "free". Your health care isn't free. Education isn't free. And if we don't do something to end the cycle of poverty, the cost of housing impoverished people, often in jails, isn't free either.

By ensuring that children are not going hungry, that they have adequate health care, that they have adequate schooling, we cut the costs down the road for future Dougs like yourself.

And tell me, Doug, if you
were to lose your job tomorrow, in this economy, would you be looking for EI?

longtime
yes its beautiful BC the best place on earth to live.of course you have to be the right sort of person and class.if you cant support your children here go where you can.!

A Guenther
to Luba Jacobson
Go to your local NDP mla and see if you can get federal disability... I had the same run around with the provincial disability and with their new rules it's just not worth the 20 pg application by 2 doctors and an advocate. If your kids are not going to school full time before they turn 19 then any money they earn over $500 on a part time job will be deducted from your cheque.. the minute they turn 19, whether they are going to school or not, then your cheque will be reduced to single rate, which in my case was by $300. I was told a few years ago that the administration of welfare was now handled privately.. when I asked a worker about it, all she would say was that Victoria was still her boss.

There isn't a single one of you that knows the future with a certainty. In 1997 I grossed $150K. Through different circumstances I lost my job and lived off the settlement and rrsps for a year. I lost my car, sold my house. I finally got another job in 1990 for $13/hour and for about 3 months of that worked 80 hours/week to try and get on my feet again... laid off from that. Finally after some 30 years of working I went to a system that was supposed to be there for me. While going into bankruptcy, I had to feed, shelter and clothe a teenager on $756 a month. Campbell in 1992 cut cheques back by $50, cut out dental, and kicked moms off welfare when their kids turned 2 years old. It's no wonder that there is such poverty in BC.. I can take it but it's just not fair for the children.

Michelle Macdonald
Being said, the payout of EI is basically the same as working a FT minimum waged paying job. It should be based on how many children you have as well, are we not expected to pay a certain percentage of it back to the gov't anyways??!! What about the people laid off because of the current economy crisis, they are living off bare minimum...My common-law was laid off at the end of November and was already suppose to be at work but due to the crisis, work contracts have been cancelled and he is now going on the fifth month of layoff..We have a 4 and 5 yr old boys and our third coming early July...He can't get work in Prince George, where we are, there are no jobs here and we have no money to relocate to more opportunity and we are expected to live off a minimum paying wage..It is impossible for the average hardworking family to survive this way. I also fear the stresses of finances and the economy are or can affect my pregnancy. What happened to the children being our future?? Programs like Healthiest Babies can help with minimal food for pregnant moms with $18 worth of food every two weeks..but yet no fruits, no veggies..Programs like food banks offer expired and generic brands that aren't always nutritious for children..What about our future, our children..What is the gov't setting them up to be..Something needs to change...They need to worry about their people instead of worrying how much is lined inside their pockets and bank accounts!!

J. Lee, North Vancouver
If raising the minimum wage is such a wonderful anti-poverty measure, then why haven’t governments of the third world countries already done so and got their citizens out of poverty?
If raising BC’s minimum wage from $8/hr to $10/hr is such a wonderful anti-poverty measure, when why stop at $10/hr? Why not go to $20/hour or $500/hour? Won’t we all have a wonderful life if employers are required by law to pay each worker $500/hour? Perhaps you now see the law of supply and demand? Employers are constantly competing for employees whose productivity is greater than their wages. As government interferes (through minimum wage act) with the natural law of supply and demand, forcing employers to pay higher wage regardless of employees’ productivity, the result is unemployment – the employers simply won’t hire. Minimum wage law provides no jobs; it only outlaws them. It is the catalyst for compulsory unemployment, which exacerbates poverty instead of mitigates it. It takes away a worker’s free choice of sacrificing for now for a better future (e.g. a student who wants to reduce his tuition fee burden, or an unskilled labour who wants to gain some work experience).
Then why do people still fight for a higher minimum wage? Are they just well-intended people making an intellectual error? Or is there something more sinister? Notice the strongest proponents of higher minimum wage law come from the NDP and its political master, the unions, is it inconceivable that their real agenda is to cripple the low-wage competition of the marginal workers as against higher-wage workers with union seniority? It is such an irony that these supposedly anti-poverty groups are actually hurting the very people whom they proclaim to protect.

stop whining
To all of you who are out there whining because you do not have enough...get off your behinds and get things done instead of asking for handouts, unless you are disabled there is no excuse. If you can work, then do so and feed the children that you yourself chose to have, put the blame where it is deserved. I am a single mother of 2 and have been for the last 5 years; I work full time and if there is something extra that I need or want for myself and/or my children I will save for it or go out and earn the extra money I need to. By the way, I know of families that make pretty close to what I earn for wages and they are collecting welfare and child tax credit. I sleep great at night knowing that I contribute to this world and am a strong role model for my children.

A Guenther
error correction to my post for the dates..
year 2000 for $13/hr job
year 2002 for Campbell cutting
cheques back

AMG - BC
to J. Lee, North Vancouver
Spoken like a true businessman, but I don't see anywhere that anybody is asking for $500/hour.
It seems to me that you are in fact the one with the paranoid delusions about 'sinister' intentions from the unions and anti-poverty groups. Your argument appears on the outside to be intellectual but is devoid of any humanity.
What I see is more and more people being laid off now and looking for work. Under the guise of a slowed down economy, it's become an employers market only this time with companies still getting the cream of the work force but at $8 an hour and a promise to, somewhere down the road, give them the raises that they so deserve. These people so desperate to try and feed, shelter, and clothe their families that they will take whatever they can get, and most likely that forthcoming raise to never reach fruition.
As far as anti-poverty groups go and unions like the teachers federation, we would never be made aware of the conditions that actually surround us. While homelessness is more obvious, people like you and/or the Liberals would never have disclosed figures like the worst child poverty in Canada, or the fact that Campbell has closed 177 schools, or the fact that people with deadly illnesses are being refused medication. With those statistics comes suffering and hardship.. try to reach deep inside and tell us then what is right or wrong.

Dave
It is time that the minimum wage and rates have to go up! This is unacceptable. Look at the trouble caused by Gordon Campbell and his government. I am sure not going to vote for this government. They sure have done the damage.

Anna from Surrey
The licence plates say "Beautiful BC", but lets face it, beyond the mountains, trees and ocean, its not beautiful at all! I moved from Ontario to BC last year and yes I will say it, it is way better. In Ontario if you earn an average wage,(BC's are a joke), you can live in a nice, SAFE, neighbourhood(not next to a trailer or crack house), drive a decent car, and go on vacation. It seems to me that the POS criminals have won here and the honest hard working people are paying for the the fallout from their craft. How can BC claim "The Best Place on Earth", I think only from an aerial view. I am terribly disappointed at the price I've paid for a view of mountains. This province decides to pay the 2nd lowest wages in the country, charge more for gas, food, licencing etc, etc, not enough busing for school children, and make the claim best Place on earth....For who? My hard earned dollar goes way further in Ontario, so I will go back to the colder climate, minus mountains & ocean, and crack houses, heroin addicts, trailer homes,multi family homes, drive by shootings and the list goes on. I challenge a BCer to move to Ontario and see your quality of life improve dramatically. You will not be goughed at every turn and its a safer place to raise your children.