Provincial report card

Half of all Aboriginal children in Saskatchewan are living in poverty.

That startling figure comes from the 2006 Report Card on Child Poverty in Saskatchewan, prepared by the social policy research unit of the faculty of social work at the University of Regina.

According to the Saskatchewan report card, the overall number of children in the province living in poverty is higher than the national average. National statistics show approximately one in six Canadian children live in poverty. In Saskatchewan, the rate is one in five.

The number of Aboriginal children living in poverty in Saskatchewan is also higher than the national average of 40 per cent.

One of the major factors contributing to the high level of poverty among Saskatchewan's Aboriginal children is the disparity between the wages paid to Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the province.

According to figures from 2000, the average income for non-First Nations people in Saskatchewan was just under $30,000. The average income for First Nations people for the same year was just under $17,000.

"Low wages paid to First Nations in an issue to be confronted if we are serious about addressing child poverty in Saskatchewan," the report card states.

Other potential solutions to the child poverty problem outlined in the Saskatchewan report card include increased provincial government spending on poverty programs, putting an end to provincial government claw backs on Canada Child Tax Benefit payments given to children on welfare, and having all levels of government work together to tackle the poverty problem.