Cape Breton has one of the highest child poverty rates in the country, according to figures released today. The numbers show that just under 33 percent of children on the Island live in poverty compared with 22.2 per cent on the Mainland and19 per cent across the country. Cape Breton’s child poverty rate is just below Nunavut, where 33.5 per cent of kids live in poverty. The figures are contained in child and family poverty reports released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Campaign 2000. The reports compare the most recent numbers on child poverty rates from 2012 with those in 1989, when the House of Commons vowed to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000. The reports show child poverty rates in the province have increased by nearly 23 percent in that 25 year period.
