Child poverty plagues every corner of Toronto, census data shows

Upwards of 125,000 Toronto children — more than one in four — are growing up in poverty, a problem that plagues pockets of every city ward, says a new report being released by Social Planning Toronto on Monday.

It is a disturbing reality all candidates vying for office in the Oct. 22 municipal election need to address, says the advocacy organization in its sixth annual report.

“Toronto is a city of great wealth and prosperity,” report says. “We can do better and … we must do better.”

With an overall poverty rate of 26.3 per cent, the city maintains its dubious status as the child poverty capital of Canada, said Peter Clutterbuck, the organization’s acting executive director.

“But there’s no question, poverty gets a bit more hidden in the larger 25-ward structure,” he said of the provincial government’s bombshell move to cut the city’s 47 wards to 25 midway through the municipal campaign.  (more...)

Child poverty plagues every corner of Toronto, census data shows

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