With Campaign 2000’s report on child poverty being released this week, MKO says it just confirms what the organization has been saying for a long time.

 

The report finds Manitoba’s child poverty rate at 20.7 per cent, the second highest in Canada after Nunavut which is at 28.1 per cent.

 

The organization’s Grand Chief Garrison Settee states it comes as no surprise that Manitoba’s child poverty rate is higher than any other Canadian province, adding poverty is the number one reason that children come into the care of Child and Family Services.

 

MKO cites that as of last March, close to ten thousand children were in care in Manitoba.

 

While Indigenous children make up around 27 per cent of the child population in the province, they account for 91 per cent of the children in care.

 

MKO goes on to call on the provincial government to respond to the recommendations outlined in the report immediately.

 

This includes the government target to end child and family poverty in the upcoming budget by using federal transfer payments to bring all families above the poverty line.