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<\/p>\nSenior researcher and director of the Saskatchewan office of the CCPA, Simon Enoch said, \u201cI think it is important to ask the questions of why and what sort of policies are going to be required to reverse these trends because they\u2019re extremely concerning when you have over 50 per cent of Saskatchewan\u2019s North vulnerable to child poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth, Dr. Lisa Broda, said it\u2019s unacceptable that children in Saskatchewan or in Canada, a developed country, live in poverty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a child and human rights issue that must be tackled with the full support and resources of the federal and provincial governments. Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 27 states that children have a right to an adequate standard of living, appropriate housing, and adequate nutrition and without this, it can impact a child\u2019s capacity to learn in school, their mental health, and their overall well-being,\u201d Broda said in an email to paNOW. \u00a0\u201cTherefore, a child cannot thrive and live to their full potential if these other rights cannot be met.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a press release, Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck said, \u201cYoung families are struggling to put food on the table, and Moe\u2019s government is actively making life harder with higher power bills, more costly insurance, and taxes on basics like kid\u2019s clothes and groceries. This is why people are leaving our communities. This is why our province\u2019s population is literally shrinking for the first time in years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Government of Saskatchewan countered and said at a time when cost-of-living pressures are affecting all Canadians, affordability challenges remain top of mind. The 2025-26 budget includes \u2018several initiatives to support low-income residents and help people manage everyday costs.\u2019<\/p>\n
It noted the Saskatchewan Low-Income Tax Credit (SLITC) is increasing by five per cent annually for the next four years, in addition to indexation \u2013 an enhancement that will benefit more than 300,000 individuals in the province.<\/p>\n
In an email to paNOW, the government also referred to the introduction of the Saskatchewan Employment Incentive, Saskatchewan Housing Benefit, and investments in Saskatchewan Housing Corporation units to provide more safe and affordable housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to strengthen income assistance programs by increasing benefits to Saskatchewan Income Support (SIS) and Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) clients by two per cent. This is the fourth year in a row SIS benefits have increased, and the third year in a row SAID benefits have risen. We also introduced a new income exemption for non-earned income from e-transfers and gifts, increased SAID earned income exemptions and have exempted the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit along and Canada Disability Benefit from our core income assistance programs. Income assistance programs include enhanced supports for clients living in northern communities to help address the higher cost of living in these areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
They said the taxation changes the government introduced will provide over $250 million in tax savings this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is in addition to the more than $2 billion in affordability measures in each and every budget,\u201d the email read.<\/p>\n
Enoch said there is no doubt government transfers make a huge impact on the amount of poor people in the province, but he said programs like the Canada Child Benefit and SLITC could be more robust in regards to greater eligibility and higher thresholds, so more people qualify.<\/p>\n