What's New News
May 5, 2008 - Press Release on Child Poverty 2006 data - BC's Child Poverty Rate Still Worst in Canada for Fifth Consecutive Year.
Upcoming Event
First Call is hosting the 4th
Living Wage Roundtable
Friday, May 9, 2008 from 9:00 - 11:30 AM
Sunset Community Centre, 6810 Main Street (at 52nd), Vancouver
We will be joined by Deborah Littman from UNISON (UK), Britain's largest public sector union with more than 1.3 million members. Deborah will be sharing information about London Citizen's organizing strategies for the living wage.
We will also be sharing the final living wage calculations, planning the campaign strategy, sharing updates from Victoria’s Living Wage campaign, and showing the new Hospital Employees' Union Living Wage Campaign video -- What does a Living Wage Mean to You? We ask that you please arrive on time as we will kick off the meeting with this short film.
Everyone is welcome to attend. Please RSVP to our office by email at info@firstcallbc.org,
or call us at our new number: 604-873-8437.
• Minutes
of Living Wage Roundtable Nov. 30/07
Increased Economic Equality
Child poverty is a regrettable and painful reality in British
Columbia and every other province in Canada. The poverty rates in BC have
moved up and down over the years, but we have been unable as a society to
break the bonds of poverty for significant numbers of children and their
parents.
Children remain poor because their parents remain poor. That may sound like
stating the obvious, but it underlines a fundamental paradox in the fight
against child poverty. We all say we value children and want to give children
the best possible start in life, yet we ignore the needs of parents who
are struggling to do their best amid the many demands of parenting in today's
busy world.
Child Poverty Report Card
The November 2007 Release of our annual Campaign 2000 Child Poverty Report
Card received unprecedented media attention, including coverage
on 9 major television stations and over 40 articles in newspapers across
the province.
This coverage was accompanied by an ongoing letter-writing campaign to both
the provincial and federal levels of government in support of a poverty
reduction strategy.
• Response
to the Report Card from the NDP's Critic for Children and Family Development
• Response
to the letter writing campaign from Premier Campbell
• Response
to the letter writing campaign from the Minister of Employment and Income
Assistance
Campaign 2000 also released a national report card, and provincial report
cards for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Ontario, which
are available at www.campaign2000.ca.
To find out more about our campaign, watch our video on child poverty here,
and join our facebook group, "BC Premier should show progress on child
poverty or pay up!"
• BC
Campaign 2000 Child Poverty Report Card
In February 2008, First Call Chair Michael Goldberg presentated to the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on the topic of urban child poverty. This briefing is an overview of topics including measuring poverty; child poverty rates; and the interaction between market income, social security benefits, taxation and statutory deductions, and income tested social programs.
BC Campaign 2000 Child Poverty Report Card (2007)
Every November through our partnership with Campaign 2000 First Call releases a series of report cards profiling child poverty in BC.
Leveling the Playing Field for Children: A Community Action Toolkit (2007) (coming soon)
This Community Action Toolkit provides information and resources on how to level the economic playing field for children and youth, including advocacy work around issues such as early learning and child care, child benefits, affordable housing, and parental leave.
Child and Youth Development and Income Inequality: A Review of Selected Literature (2007
As part of our Leveling the Playing Field Project we have compiled a review of the relationship between income poverty, inequality and child outcomes in Canada, with a particular focus on studies completed since 1998.
Child Poverty Status Report (2006)
This report is the most detailed report on child and family poverty in British Columbia ever published by First Call. It includes not only province-wide data on poverty, but also data for 25 of the larger population centres in all regions of the province.
