The purpose of this toolkit is to support individuals and community groups in their advocacy for legislation, policy and practice that benefit children and youth and their families in the lead-up to the 2020 provincial election. First Call member organizations with expertise in different areas contributed many of the facts, MORE
May 2020 Coalition Meeting At our May 13 Coalition meeting, we heard from Dr. Behn-Smith, BC’s Deputy Medical Health Officer and Aboriginal Health Physician Advisor about the impacts of COVID19 emergency measures on children, youth and their families. Dr. Behn-Smith’s presentation provided information on how COVID19 is affecting the health MORE
On April 23 the BC Coalition to End Youth Homelessness issued a Special Report on COVID-19 and Youth Homelessness highlighting impacts of the pandemic, some promising practices and making nine recommendations for provincial government action. Click here to read their report.
On April 23 the BC Coalition to End Youth Homelessness issued a Special Report on COVID-19 and Youth Homelessness highlighting impacts of the pandemic, some promising practices and making nine recommendations for provincial government action. Click here to read their report.
2019 Summary Report Access the 2019 BC Child Poverty Report Card and other resources. About The 2019 Report Card Since 1996, the BC Child Poverty Report Card has been released each year on November 24. This is in conjunction with the release of child poverty report cards across Canada, MORE
Update – Advocacy Works! On April 29th, 2019 BC’s Minister of Labour introduced Bill 8 in the legislature that will amend the Employment Standards Act to provide better protections for children and adolescents who are working. This Bill modernizes BC’s employment laws and brings us into compliance with international standards, MORE
Visit the Fostering Change website. The Issue Children and youth enter foster care at any given age, but in British Columbia all youth in the system must ‘age out’ at 19. When youth age out, the government services and supports they rely on in place of a family MORE
The Issue For many years First Call has been advocating for a repeal of section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada. Section 43, also known as the “spanking law,” permits the use of force for disciplining children by parents and persons standing in the place of parents. It reads: MORE
Policy victories: Clawing back the clawbacks First Call celebrated the BC government ending the clawback of child support from single parents on income and disability assistance. This reduced the depth of poverty for more than 5,400 BC children annually in September 2015. Another 50 to 100 children have benefited from MORE
The Issue Early years is a crucial period of human growth. Yet, in BC, young children’s vulnerability rates have risen. Families in need of quality child care face a crisis of affordability and access. Wait times for support for children with special needs are unacceptable. Family support programming is fragile MORE
Click here to visit the Living Wage for Families campaign website. The Issue One of the key contributing factors to child poverty in BC is low-wage poverty. In fact, the majority of poor children in BC live in working poor families. Without living wage standards, parents and other caregivers MORE