First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition with the support of SPARC BC produces an annual report card with the latest statistics on child and family poverty in British Columbia. This is done in conjunction with the release of the national child poverty report card by Campaign 2000.

First Call has been tracking child and family poverty rates in BC for two full decades. Our first provincial report card containing data for 1996 showed that one in five BC children were poor. It is profoundly disappointing that, now more than twenty years later, the data still shows one in five BC children live in poverty.

We know that such a widespread problem requires policy changes and social investments from our provincial and federal governments. It’s a question of priorities, and the policy changes we propose can make a real difference to children and their families. The BC Child Poverty Report Card includes a list of recommendations that would make a real difference to the size and depth of BC’s child and family poverty problem.

Click here to access the 2018 Child Poverty Report Card (PDF)

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“We depend on several reports, including First Call’s annual Child Poverty Report to provide accurate, up-to-date information to our congregation. Thank you First Call, for 20 years of hard, dedicated work advocating for BC children and their families.”

– Joanna Rainer, Vernon (May 2017)