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A new report shows one in four Saskatchewan children lives in poverty.

According to the report released Tuesday by the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan’s child poverty rate of 26.2 per cent ranks third highest in Canada, behind Nunavut and Manitoba.

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Every year a national report card is released in conjunction with provincial studies, and every year “child poverty levels continue to be unacceptably high,” said Miguel Sanchez, a co-author of the Saskatchewan report and associate professor at the University of Regina.

This is the every day reality seen by people working at Saskatoon’s Food Bank and Learning Centre, where 42.2 per cent of clients are children under the age of 18.

Photo by Matt Smith / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

“Poverty is extremely hard on children and the families that love them,” said Deborah Hamp, director of operations and engagement for the centre.

“When children don’t have access to nutritious food, when they are living in unsafe or unsatisfactory living conditions, when they are not able to full participate in school events or trips … it can wear on kids and their families.”