First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society released the 25th annual BC Child Poverty Report Card finding that not much has changed for poor children and their families. In 2019, the year this report covers, there were 156,560 (18.0%) children and youth living in poor households with many living in deep poverty. At 18.0%, BC had a slightly higher child poverty rate than Canada at 17.7%. We are encouraged to see the rate was down slightly from 2018 at 18.5% following the trend of gradual improvement since 2010 but progress is not fast enough for children whose health and development are at risk because they are poor.

The report contains 22 child poverty reduction recommendations for the provincial government including indexing the BC Child Opportunity Benefit to inflation to ensure the value of the benefit does not erode over time, ensuring their direct and contract employees are paid a living wage and continue to prioritize new child care investments.