Two Grade six students from Greenfield Elementary in River Ryan made a presentation on child poverty at last night’s meeting of Cape Breton Regional Council. Joella MacIsaac and Adam MacLean gave an account of their experiences at a three-day youth summit on the issue in Ottawa in November. Their pair says they met many people who care about child poverty at the summit but add they were struck by the fact that no Conservative MP’s were there. MacLean told Council “We need help to stop child poverty.” Their teacher Diane Lewis noted that in 1989 Parliament promised to end child poverty by the year 2000. A recent report shows child poverty is now at one in seven in Canada while one in three children in Cape Breton live in poverty. After the presentation, councillors approved a motion to send a letter to the appropriate people noting their support for the students’ presentation.
