Looking back on your childhood, you’ll probably reminisce on many fond and special memories that have molded you into the person you are today. Unfortunately, there are many children who have been robbed of this experience and face real challenges that are much too complicated for their age.   

Every year on November 20th, World Children’s Day is celebrated to promote children’s rights and welfare, while focusing on creating a better world for them filled with opportunities. Why November 20th you may ask? This day was established by the United Nations General Assembly when they adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959, marking the first major international consensus on the fundamental principles of children’s rights.  

Statistics on Child Poverty in Canada 

Every child deserves to have access to basic rights and the ability to thrive. Although Canada is known to be a wealthy nation, many children are suffering at the hands of poverty where they are lacking their basic needs and living in an unsafe environment.  

  • Nearly 1.3 million children are living in poverty (1 in 5 children) 
  • 1 in 2 Status First Nations children lives in poverty 
  • 8% of children in British Columbia live in poverty with children under the age of 6 representing an even higher poverty rate of 20.1% 
  • 1 in 5 Edmonton children live in poverty, which increases to 1 in 3 children in single-parent families 
  • 40% of Indigenous children in Canada live in poverty, and 60% of Indigenous children on reserves live in poverty 
  • More than one-third of food bank users across Canada were children in 2016 
  • About 1 in 7 of those using shelters in Canada are children  

Child poverty influences mental health. Research shows that children living in poverty are at risk of poor mental health outcomes including depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions. Unfortunately, these mental health issues in childhood often lead to issues in adulthood. There is an urgent need to provide support and resources to children and youth in order to stop the cycle of neglect and abuse. 

How is Netsweeper Helping? 

As a leading provider of application and internet content classification and filtering solutions, Netsweeper is dedicated to providing safeguarding initiatives to protect at-risk children by identifying harmful actions in real-time. With onGuard, safeguarding leaders have the ability to take proactive steps for early intervention to promote mental health wellness.  

For more information on how you can mitigate potentially harmful activity and monitor children for at-risk behaviour, book a demo with one of our solution experts to see how we can help you.   

Submitted by: Natasha Pande