Study reports high poverty rate for Native children in Canada

Wednesday, June 19, 2013  

Forty percent of Native children in Canada are living in poverty, the highest rate in the country, according to a new report.

The report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Save the Children Canada found that 27 percent of Métis, Inuit and non-status Native children live in poverty. For status children, the rate jumped to 50 percent.

Going by province, 62 percent of status children in Manitoba lived in poverty. The rate was slightly higher in Saskatchewan, where 64 percent of status children were in poverty.

"Recalling that the provinces provide the bulk of social services to citizens while the federal government maintains jurisdiction for 'Indians and lands belonging to Indians,' the striking difference between poverty rates for status First Nations children compared to Métis, Inuit and non-status First Nations children suggests that the government jurisdiction under which they fall is a significant factor in the poverty of status First Nations children," the report states in explaining the higher poverty rate for status children.

Get the Story:
Half of First Nations children live in poverty (CBC 6/19)

Get the Report:
Poverty or Prosperity: Indigenous children in Canada (June 2013)