Earlier this week, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives – Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS) released its annual report on the numbers of children and families living in poverty in our province. Using the most recent publicly available data (2023), CCPA-NS presents a grim portrait of the impact of low wages, insufficient income assistance, and lack of affordable housing on Nova Scotian households.
While, there has been a small reduction in the overall number of children living in poverty (4.6%), Nova Scotia continues to have the highest rate of child poverty in Atlantic Canada and third-highest in Canada. Today, more than one in four children in our province live in poverty and nearly 50% of single-parent households live below the poverty line.
Our current provincial government must make good on its promise to develop and implement a child poverty reduction strategy. The basic needs of tens of thousands of Nova Scotian children and families are not being met while we await the level, and urgency, of action this crisis warrants.