WR6 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2011 THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR l THE SPEC.COM

BORN CONTINUED FROM // WR5 Of the province’s 2,100 munici- with a higher teen pregnancy pal neighbourhoods, it had the rate,” said Sieswerda. Nina’s son, Nicolas, is a year old highest rate of teen mothers. Six of the 12 neighbourhoods in and his dad is long gone. One in four babies in Victoria- with the highest rates of He left in Nina’s third trimester, ville was born to a teen mom be- teen moms are located in Thunder returning to England to serve time tween 2006 and 2010. Bay, Hamilton and Sault Ste. Ma- in jail for a crime she didn’t know Based on Statistics cen- rie, another steelmaking hub that about at the time — and won’t dis- sus data, it appears about one of has suffered from substantial job close. every three teen girls living in the losses over the past three decades. It was a blow — but she said her neighbourhood had a baby at some Drill down to the level of Onta- son helped her get through it. point between 2006 and 2010. rio’s neighbourhoods and the dis- “It’s him that I need to be taking The stories of Hamilton and parities in teen mom rates be- care of and living for. It gets my Thunder Bay are similar in some tween rich and poor are obvious. mind off other things. Without important ways, at least when it Take Victoriaville, for instance. him, it would be way harder.” comes to their local economies. The median household income Nina lives with her dad and his Both have watched their tradition- there, according to the last census, new wife on the Mountain. She’s al industrial bases erode. was $16,200 — below the poverty got a new boyfriend, too — a guy Once a major shipping hub, line and far behind the Ontario she said she met on the dance floor many of Thunder Bay’s grain ele- average of $60,500. of a club last summer. vators stand abandoned along the In Victoriaville, two of every For Nina, it’s their different reli- waterfront. three children live in poverty, gious backgrounds, rather than “There were lumber mills and more than 40 per cent of all income the baby, that complicates the rela- pulp and paper mills, and all that’s comes from government transfers tionship. really declined,” said Lee Sieswer- and nearly one in three families is “He knows I’m a good girl. And da, an epidemiologist with the headed by a single mom. his parents do, too, so they’re not Thunder Bay District Health Unit. In fact, take the five Ontario really stopping anything.” “In the same way as Hamilton has neighbourhoods with the highest Nina said her child motivates seen that hit in terms of employ- rates of teen mothers and look at her to stay out of trouble, and it ment, we’ve seen the same kind of their average characteristics. was he who drove her to go back to thing. All five have teen mom rates that school at Grace Haven — a local “If teen pregnancy is more com- range between 21 and 25 per cent. centre for pregnant teens and mon around disadvantaged peo- Together, their median household young moms. ple and we’ve seen a real hit to our income is just over half of the pro- She’s almost done Grade 9 now economy, it kind of follows that vincial average, and both their and thinks she’d like to become a teen pregnancy would follow poverty rate and the proportion of cosmetician one day. TERI PECOSKIE, THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR along with that decline.” income that comes from govern- “This is making me stronger, In Thunder Bay’s Victoriaville neighbourhood, which is blighted by grinding One critical difference in Thun- ment transfers are more than pushing me more to school and poverty, one in eight people is native. der Bay is the much higher concen- twice the provincial norm. I’m just not doing stupid things,” tration of aboriginals, many of Compare that with the five she said. “I think having a child Victoriaville: a neighbourhood in crisis them young people. About one in neighbourhoods at the other end makes everything better for me.” eight people in Victoriaville is na- of the scale — in Burlington, Oak- Thunder Bay’s Victoriaville neighbourhood is a virtual case study tive, the same proportion as Thun- ville, Vaughan, Markham and To- ot far from the rail yards in the close correlation between high teen mother rates and poverty. der Bay itself. ronto. Of the 4,461 women who Nnear the old downtown of Statistics also show the Canada- gave birth in those five neighbour- what was once Fort William, Median household income: $16,187 wide fertility rate for aboriginal hoods, not one was a teenager. The km 4 there’s a piece of Thunder Bay 0 THUNDERTHUNTHUNDERDER Percentage income from government transfers: 41% teen girls is seven times higher median household income is near- BABBAYAY known as Victoriaville. Percentage of families headed by single mother: than the national average. ly 50 per cent higher than the pro- Victoriaville 32% The neighbourhood is home to a Percentage of residents living below poverty line: 57% “You have a group that has high vincial average, the rate of govern- near-vacant mall, a methadone Percentage of children living below poverty line: 64% fertility among teen moms and a ment transfer income is half the clinic and a homeless shelter with FORTFORT WILLIWWILLIAMILLIAMAM larger proportion of that particu- Ontario rate and less than one in 10 Percentage with a university degree (ages 25-64): 4% a soup kitchen that serves 500 lar subpopulation in the city, so it’s families is headed by a singlemom. meals a day. SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA Dean Tweed // THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR not too surprising that you end up BORN CONTINUED ON // WR7 ONTARIO: A PROVINCE DIVIDED The Spectator's analysis of 535,000 provincial birth records reveals that between 2006 and 2010 the 20 communities with the highest incidence of teen mothers are either in Ontario's Far North or native reserves.

Communities with the highest rates of teen mothers Big Trout Lake First Nation Percentage of all mothers that are teenagers Median household income: $30,805 14 Median household income: $28,000 Unemployment rate: 26.4% Unemployment rate: 11.9% 1 Sandy Lake First Nation 40% No high school diploma, No high school diploma, certificate 32.6 certificate or degree (ages 25-64): 58% or degree (ages 25-64): 74% 2 3 30.1 Rate of teen mothers: 40% Rate of teen mothers: 28.2% 4 Shoal Lake First Nation 29.2 8 5 5 Big Trout Lake First Nation 28.2 15 6 Cochrane, unorganized North 27.6 Grassy Narrows First Nation 1 11 7 First Nation 27.1 Median household income: $17,824 3 19 Unemployment rate: 31.9% 8 Wapekeka 2 First Nation 26.9 No high school diploma, certificate 16 9 Grassy Narrows First Nation 25.9 or degree (ages 25-64): 51% 2 10 Fort William 52 First Nation 24.4 Rate of teen mothers: 25.9% 11 Weagamow Lake 87 First Nation 24.4 12 Wikwemikong First Nation 24.1 7 9 17 6 Cochrane 13 Thunder Bay, unorganized 23.3 4 20 14 Fort Severn 89 First Nation 23.1 Timmins 18 15 Attawapiskat First Nation 22.9 4 13 16 Factory Island 1 First Nation 22.5 10 Thunder Bay 17 Smooth Rock Falls 21.9 18 Whitefish Bay 32A First Nation 21.6 Sudbury 19 20.9 Sault Ste. Marie 1 20 , unorganized 19.2

Communities with the lowest rates of teen mothers North Bay SudburySudbury Percentage of all mothers that are teenagers OttawaOttawa 1 St. Joseph 0 Cornwall 2 East Garafraxa 0 12 3 3 Assiginack Township 0 4 Schreiber 0 5 Vaughan 0.6 KingstonKingston 6 Markham 0.6 PeterboroughPeterborough 7 Oakville 0.7 Barrie 19 8 Caledon 0.7 16 15 10 Oakville 9 Richmond Hill 0.7 9 8 6 Median household income: 5 $92,394 10 Whitchurch-Stouffville 1.1 2 Unemployment rate: 5.3% 20 18 Toronto No high school diploma, certificate 11 Milton 1.1 17 11 7 or degree (ages 25-64): 5.7% 12 Middlesex Centre 1.2 KitchenerKitchener 13 Rate of teen mothers: 0.7% 13 Burlington 1.4 14 NiagaraNiagara FFallsalls 12 14 West Lincoln 1.4 West Lincoln Burlington 15 Aurora 1.4 Sarnia Median household income: Median household income: $66,680 $74,969 16 King 1.4 Unemployment rate: 4.8% Unemployment rate: 4.6% No high school diploma, certificate No high school diploma, certificate 17 Wellesley 1.5 or degree (ages 25-64): or degree (ages 25-64): 19.5% 7.3% Mississauga Windsor 18 1.7 Rate of teen mothers: 1.4% Rate of teen mothers: 1.4% 19 Uxbridge 1.7 20 Halton Hills 1.8 SOURCE: BORN ONTARIO, STATISTICS CANADA 2006 CENSUS Steve Buist, Teri Pecoskie, Dean Tweed // THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR