Editor:
Re: Enriching the poverty debate, March 9, Observer.
It is ignoble of him to assert some “enrichment’ however, the facts remain, B.C.’s child poverty rate is the worst in Canada, the chasm between the rich and poor continues to grow, with the mega-wealthy out pacing everyone, and the debt to income ration for working Canadians has reached an all time high. It is not an “enriched” reality.
As a school principal I see daily the impact poverty has on children.
The greatest of these is the fact that children in poverty experience lower rates of school completion than children not living in poverty – this is a cost we can not afford.
Poverty is not a single issue phenomenon. It is a multi-layer, multi faceted syndrome.
Children living in poverty often live with higher rates of domestic violence, separation, divorce, loss of a family member, forced mobility, (Evans & English 2002), higher rates of physical and sexual abuse, higher rates or alcoholism in the home, higher rates of drug addiction in the home, higher transiency rates, higher rates of mental health issues in the home (McCoy, Firck, Loney & Ellis, 1999), live in families with higher rates of crime with limited social supports (Jack & Jordan, 1999), higher rates of teen pregnancy, higher rates of overcrowded and substandard housing, and higher rates of learning challenges (Jensen, 2009).
Chronic exposure to poverty causes the brain to physically change in a detrimental way. Fortunately, with adequate interventions, brain plasticity allows this damage to be reversed.
Quesnel is not immune to the problems associated with children living in poverty. In our school system we provide a daily breakfast and lunch program.
I know of other initiatives within our community to help off-set the impacts of poverty on children. I believe that our community will be much more prosperous if we invest more in our future in a way that brings economic opportunity and parity for children living in poverty.
Mr. Fletcher, you assert that the group First Call and the NDP are “trumpeting distorted statistics,” and “pounding away for days… demanding that the BC Liberal government produce a plan to eliminate child poverty…” as an “annual ritual.”
You are mistaken, the rates are real no matter how you interpret them and the issues are real and in no way can they be viewed as ritualized. BC has the highest child poverty rates in the country.
We need less rhetoric and more action to end child poverty and give our children the future they deserve.
Dennis Hawkins-Bogle
Principal
McNaughton Centre
Quesnel
