A ROOM WITH A POINT OF VIEW
WHY ARE KIDS GOING TO SCHOOL HUNGRY IN CANADA?
Using Canada’s official poverty line, 802,000 children (10.7%) live in poverty. Image credit: NEWS CANADA.
By SHAGORIKA EASWAR
There have been a slew of press releases recently on various ministers making announcements about increases in federal Canada Child Benefit in various provinces.
For instance, Secretary of State Buckley Belanger highlighted that nearly 134,100 families in Saskatchewan are benefiting from more generous payments starting July.
“The Government of Canada is continuing to make life more affordable for families by strengthening the Canada Child Benefit (CCB). This benefit provides tax-free monthly payments to help parents with the costs of raising children and give kids across the country a strong start in life.
“The CCB will provide families with up to $8,157 per child under the age of 6 and up to $6,883 per child aged 6 to 17. This represents an increase of up to $160 per child under age 6 and up to $135 per child aged 6 to 17 compared to the previous year, helping families manage everyday expenses such as groceries, clothing and child care.
“Today, nationally, the CCB supports about 3.6 million families caring for 6 million children, delivering approximately $30 billion in annual tax-free payments. The CCB has helped lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty and has put more money directly into the pockets of parents who need it most.”
And so on.
“The Canada Child Benefit is about giving families the breathing room they need to thrive,” said Anna Gainey, Secretary of State (Children and Youth).
Campaign 2000, the non-partisan, pan-Canadian network of 120+ national, provincial and community partner organizations committed to working to end child and family poverty, hosted by Family Service Toronto, had a slightly different take.
It welcomed the annual inflation adjustment to the CCB.
“Indexing the CCB to inflation is essential. It helps ensure that the benefit does not lose value as families face the rising costs of groceries, rent, clothing, child care and other necessities,” said Leila Sarangi, National Director of Campaign 2000: End Child and Family Poverty. “But the announcement maintains the status quo; it does not provide the scale of new investment needed to reverse the rise in child poverty or reach children and families living in the deepest poverty.”
Campaign 2000’s 2025 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada shows that child poverty rose for the third consecutive year.
Using Canada’s official poverty line, 802,000 children (10.7%) live in poverty.
Using a broader income measure with tax filing data, nearly 1.4 million children are living in poverty.
Families with children in poverty are, on average, more than $15,000 below the poverty line.
The report also finds that the CCB remains a critical poverty-reduction tool, and prevented more than 580,000 children from falling into poverty in 2023. However, its impact has weakened over time as inflation, high housing costs, food insecurity and inadequate income supports push families further behind.
“The Canada Child Benefit matters,” said Sarangi. “But a modest annual adjustment will not reach families who are thousands of dollars below the poverty line. Child poverty has more than doubled since 2020 on Canada’s official measure, and too many children are being left in deep poverty. The federal government must strengthen the CCB with a targeted End Child Poverty Supplement so the children facing the greatest barriers get the income support they need now.”
Children and families experiencing the highest rates of poverty include lone-parent families, particularly those led by women; families that include people with disabilities; First Nations, Inuit and Métis children; racialized children; newcomer children; children in care; and families facing barriers to decent work, affordable housing and public services. These inequities are not inevitable; they are the result of policy choices and can be changed through sustained public investment.
Campaign 2000 is calling on the federal government to restore and strengthen the poverty-reduction power of the CCB by introducing an End Child Poverty Supplement targeted to families in deep poverty. This supplement would build on the existing CCB platform and direct additional income support to the children and families who need it most.
According to Food Banks Canada’s 2026 Poverty Report Cards, Canada’s resilience against poverty and food insecurity improved slightly in 2026, but without urgent, federal action to modernize EI, and provincial and territorial improvements to social assistance, that positive progress is at risk of being swept away.
According to the new reports, the introduction of the Grocery and Essentials Benefit, progress toward automatic tax filing, expanded dental care and the strengthening of the CCB nudged Canada’s overall grade up from a D in 2025 to a D+ in 2026.
Highlights of the Canada 2026 Poverty Report Card:
Overall Grade: D+
Food Insecurity Grade: F
Legislative Progress: C
Federal policy recommendations include:
Reform EI permanently to create modern supports for today’s workforce.
Close the cost-of-living gap in the Groceries and Essentials Benefit for Northern Canada.
Conduct a national review of social assistance and federal transfers.
“Canada needs modern EI for our modern workplace,” said Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley. “Too many workers – youth, gig, self-employed, part-time and precarious workers – are all paying the price for decades of temporary, band-aid policies. As unemployment trends upwards, combined with increased living costs and economic uncertainty, our broken and outdated EI system is one of the greatest threats to Canada’s resiliency.”
“Canada has the tools to end child poverty,” added Sarangi. “The evidence is clear: income transfers work when they are adequate, accessible and designed to reach those most excluded. Indexation protects the benefit from erosion, but ending child poverty requires a bolder commitment.”
More info at www.campaign2000.ca and www.foodbankscanada.ca.