THREE DECADES LOST Nova Scotia’s legacy of child and family poverty DR. LESLEY FRANK & LAURA FISHER It has been 30 years since the all-party resolution in the House of Commons to eliminate poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000. It is also almost 30 years since Canada ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991. Article 27 of the Convention directs signatories to “recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral, and social development.” As we enter the beginning of a new year and of a new decade, we mourn for the generations of children whose parents want nothing more than to provide them with what they need to thrive.
Unfortunately, a significant number of children remain in poverty across Canada.
WHAT WILL THIS NEW YEAR AND NEW DECADE BRING? Canada now has a poverty reduction strategy, passed into legislation in June 2019 by the federal government, signaling a renewed commitment to reducing if not eradicating poverty in Canada. However, aspects of this legislation disappoint, including weak targets, long timelines, and the absence of reference to economic security as a human right.
As a society in the 10th wealthiest nation in the world we have an obligation, moral and legal, to support these families, to uphold the rights of the child and to end poverty.
Winter 2020 | Connection 17
