The ThunderBlogs

Budget cuts, language differences, and poverty are at the heart of why children from Vancouver’s oldest residential neighbourhood have been found to face the most challenges to receiving a successful education.

According to a report published in the Sept. 22 edition of The Vancouver Sun, children of the Strathcona neighbourhood have the highest percentage of “developmental deficiencies expected to impair their early learning and possibly their entire learning experience.”  The report, conducted by the University of B.C.’s Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), stated that 58.5 per cent of Strathcona children face developmental deficiencies that range from communication to health challenges.

The same day the newspaper published the article, one of Strathcona Community Centre’s child support workers sat on a bench outside of the centre, watching over dozens of children dash after one another around the playground, dangle from monkey bars and push one another on swings.

The centre is physically connected to Vancouver’s oldest elementary school, Lord Strathcona, a big red brick building located just outside of Chinatown.  A total of 55 children from the ages of one to five, including Lord Strathcona kindergarten students, make up the community centre’s daycare program.  According to Julie Brassard, the program’s coordinator of six years, this number had been going up until this year when the centre had to double the program fees from $120 to $225 due to provincial budget cuts.  Something that only magnified the problems the children in the area face.

“There are language issues for sure,” said Brassard.  Strathcona is one of Vancouver’s most culturally diverse neighbourhoods, with over 29 cultural groups living in the area, the main ones being Chinese, Japanese, Italian and Jewish.  But poverty is also a major issue.  Even with a breakfast program which serves 150 families, “kids come up to the kitchen asking for food because they are still hungry,” said Brassard.

“How can you do well in school if you don’t eat every night and roam from home to home?” said Deborah Carter, as she leaned against a railing, watching her five year-old daughter play with the other kids outside the centre.  Carter also said Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) as well as other hyperactive disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) make it harder for children in the area to develop the means to learn properly.

“I hate to put it on money and resources, but I think the needs are known and if the resources were there we could work toward meeting the needs,” said Brassard.