Half of Indigenous children live in poverty, study says

OTTAWA — About one in every two Indigenous children in Canada lives in poverty, says a study released Tuesday that also finds little evidence that the situation has improved over the last decade.

Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde said in a statement that the findings in the study underscore the need to invest in First Nations children, families and communities. Bellegarde planned to drop the report in the laps of the country’s premiers, who gathered in Saskatchewan for an annual meeting.

“Canada is not tracking First Nations poverty on-reserve so we did,” Bellegarde said. “Our children face the worst social and economic conditions in the country. They deserve an opportunity to succeed.”

Published by the Upstream Institute, and written by researchers at the AFN and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the study found that 47 per cent of First Nations children on and off reserve live in poverty.

That figure rises to 53 per cent when looking at First Nations children living on reserves, or roughly three times the national rate of 17.6 per cent reported in the 2016 census.

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