Mr. Speaker, the summit of the Americas to be held next month follows the first summit, held in Miami in 1994, and the second, held in Santiago, Chile in 1998.
The summit, which is being hosted by the Prime Minister of Canada, will bring together the heads of state of 34 democratically elected governments in the western hemisphere.
I want to repeat what the previous speaker mentioned because it is important. The summit will deal with three themes: strengthening democracy, including human rights, justice, local governments, the illegal drug trade, security and civil society; creating prosperity, including the free trade area of the Americas, infrastructure, labour, environment and the issue of inequalities; and realizing human potential, including education, health, gender equality, indigenous peoples, cultural diversity and children.
When I heard that we were going to debate the issue in the House, I wanted to try to speak on an area which I felt might be downplayed. It is an area about which I feel very strongly. It is the role that our children play in allowing us to achieve stronger democracies, to improve prosperity and to realize human potential.
I believe that the leaders coming to the summit of the Americas must advance the principles and values that underpin the essence of a democracy, such as fairness and equity, respect for human rights, caring for those unable to care for themselves, and representing the interests of those without a voice, particularly the generations of children to come.
I wanted to talk about children and about the need to strengthen the family in the context of poverty. I believe the conditions we have in Canada are somewhat reflective of the conditions we would find in other countries in the Americas. The only difference is the degree to which those conditions may present themselves.
I believe that poverty is one of the least understood issues in the Americas. Advocacy groups call it child poverty and it tugs at the heartstrings of every caring person. They have invoked the images of children starving in the streets and report that the problem has increased more than 50% over the last decade.
Who could possibly be against eliminating child poverty? The bold reality is that the poverty in Canada and in the Americas is more a matter of social poverty rather than economic poverty.
We know that in November 1989 parliament passed a resolution to seek to achieve the elimination of poverty by the year 2000. That actually was our first millennium project. Over the last 10 years, it has been the raison d'être for virtually every anti-poverty voice in Canada.
No one will dispute the nobility of the gesture, but it was hollow and without substance. I say this because if the root causes of poverty were understood, we would come to the conclusion that to seek to achieve the elimination of poverty is in fact not possible.
Anti-poverty groups are growing in size and influence. They report annually on the growing level of poverty in our country and fiercely lobby governments to act. More jobs, more social assistance, more social housing, more tax benefits for families with children, more money for health and early childhood development, more employment insurance benefits and subsidized day care are but a few of the demands of these advocates.
They universally accept the low income cutoff known as LICO as the measure of poverty, for one simple reason. It is an economic measure which calls for economic solutions. If they had to address the root causes of poverty, it would open up a Pandora's box which I believe most fear to face.
Homelessness has also become one of the latest focuses for the poverty groups. As an example, in January 1999 a task force headed up by Anne Golden issued a report on homelessness in the city of Toronto. Declaring that there were workable solutions, the task force engaged all levels of government to step up to their responsibilities.
However, if hon. members look very closely at the conclusions of the report they will find some interesting statistics. Of the homeless identified, 35% suffered from mental illness, 15% were aboriginals off reserve, 10% were abused women and, significantly, 28% were youths who had been alienated from their families, of which 70% had experienced physical or sexual abuse. In addition, they found that 47% of the homeless in Toronto did not even come from Toronto. In fact they have been migrating to urban centres from all across Canada. Sadly people who live in squalor on the streets of our country represent those who no one loves.
Lone parents now represent about 15% of all families in Canada but, sadly, account for about 54% of all children or families living in poverty. The rate of family breakdown is almost 50% when we include the breakdown of common law relationships.
The incidence of domestic violence continues at record levels. Alcohol and drug abuse in our schools and our communities has escalated with tragic consequences. Unwanted teen pregnancies continue to rise. Close to 30% of students are dropping out of our high schools and are becoming Canada's poor in waiting.
Statistics Canada and Health Canada have concluded that 25% of children in Canada are entering adult life with significant mental, social or behavioural problems.
These represent the social poverty of our society and they are the root causes of the vast majority of the economic poverty in Canada.
If poverty in Canada is a horror and a national disgrace, then the breakdown of the family is the principal cause of that disgrace. Those who express outrage at poverty but who do not express the same outrage at the breakdown of the family are truly in denial.
However, in these days of political correctness, the family and its structure and condition represent a minefield through which few are prepared to tread. Anti-poverty groups have meekly sidestepped the social poverty dimension. However, if we are not prepared to address social poverty in our country, then we effectively choose to tolerate—