Many Canadians are raising their grandchildren: Statistics Canada

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A growing number of grandparents in this country are living with and caring for their grandchildren and, for many, it is not easy.

Statistics Canada has released a report focusing on the almost 600,000 grandparents in Canada who live in the same household as their grandkids.

The vast majority live in multi-generational households, but almost a third lived with and helped a lone parent and more than one in 10 were the sole caregivers for their grandchildren.

“I call it the club that none of us wanted to join. Our ‘freedom 55’ plan is now the ‘work until we die’ plan,” says Betty Cornelius, founder of the support and advocacy group Cangrands.

Cornelius was raised, in part, by her grandmother. She also raised her own granddaughter from the age of three, eventually putting her through college.

“Our top issues are not enough money, no respite care and no community support. Everyone says it takes a village to raise a child and I keep asking where the village is,” she tells News1130.

“These grandparents are isolated and alone and we are expected to step in. I was happy to step in — my little granddaughter was born with a triple heart condition, stomach hernia and collapsed lung due to her mom’s drugs and drinking — but I didn’t plan this. I didn’t plan for $28,000 in lawyers’ fees and 18 years of raising a child, braces, grad dresses, and then college.”

Cornelius says there is very little financial help available for grandparent caregivers, who often rely on savings or home equity to pay the bills.

“BC is actually better than any other province, with $365 available every month. That’s the best money in the country. But a quart of milk is still a quart of milk and running shoes are still running shoes. It costs money to raise somebody else’s children, even if they are your grandchildren.”

Cangrands is pushing for more support for grandparent caregivers, including more respite care.

“There was a study this week showing kinship families have more depression. Well, to me, that’s a no-brainer. We have more depression, more strokes and more diabetes than our Snowbird friends because we have more stress!”

Statistics Canada says the proportion of co-residing grandparents is higher in Aboriginal communities and among recent immigrants.

However, recent immigrants are more likely to live in multi-generational households where the grandparents have less financial responsibility.

Aboriginal grandparents are more likely to live in single-parent or “skip-generation” households, while taking more responsibility for raising grandchildren.

“The government here has a long way to go,” says Cornelius.

“We had a ‘grandparent leave’ bill and six ‘grandparent rights’ bills go nowhere, federally. BC has grandparents’ rights but Ontario doesn’t. I think our government should really hang it’s head.”