Two important new voices joined the call for a BC poverty reduction plan in the last couple days.
First, on Tuesday, BC Provincial Health Officer Perry Kendall released a special report entitled Investing in Prevention. The report received quite a lot of media attention. However, most of the coverage dealt with the common-space issues of healthy eating, exercise and smoking. Almost no attention was paid to two of Dr Kendall’s five key recommendations. Specifically, Recommendation 2 calls on the government to:
Recommit to early childhood development. The report 15 by 15: A Comprehensive Policy Framework for Early Human Capital Investment in BC, produced by the Human Early Learning Partnership, provides a blueprint for government to follow.
And Recommendation 3 says:
Look at those provinces and territories that have committed to poverty reduction (e.g., Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Yukon) and create a “Made in BC” program.
And more good news: this morning at the annual Union of BC Municipalities convention, the UBCM delegates passed a resolution calling on the province to adopt a comprehensive poverty reduction plan.
Adrienne Montani // Sep 30, 2010 at 2:55 pm
These two issues are linked. Healthy early childhood development is a key part of a long term poverty reduction strategy. The chorus of voices from all sectors clamouring for the provincial government to act on the evidence of what makes a healthy society keeps growing. Let’s keep it up!
Brittney Kerr // Sep 30, 2010 at 4:39 pm
This is fantastic news! I’m very pleased that UBCM has passed a motion calling attention to an issue that is urgently needed for British Columbians. I encourage everyone to sign their name to the Open Letter put forth by the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition. http://bcpovertyreduction.ca