Canada is failing their kids...

Stardate 8538.12

As a nation, Canada is doing pretty good. We have budget surpluses, natural resources, excellent donuts and the best NHL team in the league... So why do so many of our kids live in poverty? Some points from the newly released Unicef report show how we are seriously failing...

• About one in six Canadian children live in poverty
• Canada has one of the highest rates of obesity among children in developed countries at 26 per cent
• Canada's infant mortality rates have remained unchanged for the past five years while rates in other developed countries continue to fall. Canada's infant mortality rate remains at five deaths per 1,000 births
• Canada has one of the highest rates of children in state care and in youth detention centres compared with other industrialized nations
• Only twenty per cent of children with mental illness are receiving treatment in Canada
• Poverty rates among aboriginal children are almost three times higher than for other Canadian children
• Remote communities across the country were found to lack adequate housing, clean water and quality education

How come we can afford to pay our amateur olympic athletes $20,000 per medal they win but many of our kids live in poverty? Maybe some people feel our country is wealthy, but certainly a lot of Canadians see none of it.