Canada failing children!

Canada is among several rich countries that lag behind in the equality of children’s material well-being when compared with other developed nations, according to a new report.

UNICEF’s unprecedented “Report Card 9: the Children Left Behind” ranks 24 OECD countries in terms of equality in the categories of children’s health, education, and material prosperity.

The report measured the gap between the average child and the child “near the bottom” to determine the extent to which affluent nations have allowed their most disadvantaged children to fall behind the rest of society.

Canada falls somewhere in the middle when its overall ranking in all three categories are considered, placing 10th out of 24 countries.

However, when it comes to children’s material well-being, which includes family income and housing, Canada ranks 17th, putting it in the company of Greece, Italy, and the United States, which are among the bottom-dwelling countries examined in the report.

Switzerland was ranked as having the least inequality in material well-being, followed by Iceland and the Netherlands.

Canada is among the top countries in education and health, ranking third and ninth respectively. The lowest levels of health inequality were found in the Netherlands, followed by Norway and Portugal.

Canada customarily rates in quality of living assessments, as in a recent United Nations ranking of third overall in terms of human development, a classification considering health and longevity, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living.

The UNICEF report notes however that the consequences of “falling behind” are enormous for children as well as for a country’s economy, and will undermine quality of living if not addressed.

“With stronger public policy, Canada can rise above its mediocre performance and leave no child behind,” Marv Bernstein, Chief Advisor, Advocacy, UNICEF Canada, said in a release.

“The level of family income is a major influence on all aspects of child well-being. Canada should address income inequality by promoting fairly paid and highly skilled employment and through sufficient and fairly distributed benefits and taxation. We also need to ensure health, education and other services reduce rather than widen disadvantage among our children.”

According to the report, the social costs for failing to address inequality include the loss of economic competitiveness from not having a segment of the population live up to their potential, and the cumulative social expenditures that come with having a growing underclass.

Bernstein said Canada needs to close the gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal children and establish a National Children’s Commissioner to ensure the best interests of children are considered in policy decisions, among other recommendations.