Half of children under the age of six living in Nunavut live in poverty — the highest rate in the country — according to a new report released Tuesday.

The report, from the advocacy group Campaign 2000, looks at child poverty rates in Canada, where it says 1.4 million children live in poverty.

In Nunavut, nearly 42% of children under the age of 18 live in poverty. This is compared to the national average, which is 18%.

The report is based on 2022 Statistics Canada household income data.

From 2021 to 2022, Nunavut also saw the largest increase in child poverty rates for children under 18 and children under 6 – up 6.8 and 6 per cent respectively.

Jasmine Redfern, president of the Amautiit Nunavut Inuit Women’s Association, said the data doesn’t tell the whole story.

“It really only focuses on one indicator of poverty, which is people’s income,” Redfern said. “But what we understand about poverty is that poverty is actually a multidimensional problem, and there are multidimensional experiences of poverty.”

“So people don’t have access to income, but there are also things like access and social inclusion, the ability to access resources and supports, and that’s information that’s not captured in this data.”

Redfern pointed to inflation and a minimum wage that doesn’t meet the high cost of living in Nunavut as potential reasons for the high poverty rates.

Terence Hamilton, deputy director of policy at UNICEF Canada and a member of the Campaign 2000 steering committee, said child poverty rates have increased in every province and territory in the country over the past two years.

“So many issues of concern, but we’re also optimistic that, you know, bringing attention to this issue will put it back on the political agenda and move into an election year,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said there are several things driving up child poverty rates, including inflation.

Like Redfern, he also acknowledged that income numbers are only part of the picture when it comes to poverty rates.

“So that means our measure of poverty is a relative one. It’s about the experience of not being able to give your children a “normal or average” education, Hamilton said.

The report makes nearly 60 recommendations to reduce child poverty rates. The biggest, Hamilton said, is adding a low-income supplement to the federal Canada Child Benefit.

“It already exists and so supplementing it would be relatively simple to implement and with sufficient investment we could see a real drop in the child poverty rate in a short period of time,” he said.

“It shows us that the government and its policy tools are a little slow to react to changes in Canadian society, and we need to do more for those families who are struggling to make ends meet.”

Redfern agreed, saying she also wants to see the federal initiative expanded for Inuit children first. It is scheduled to expire in March 2025.