In 2014 , the province had a child poverty rate of 24 . 6 per cent . That places Saskatchewan well ahead of the national average of 18 . 5 per cent , and just behind Manitoba and Nunavut . The report ' s authors say the situation gets even more dire on First Nations . On reserves , the situation is really almost unbelievable , said professor Paul Gingrich . We had a child poverty rate of 69 per cent . That ' s over two out of three children living on reserves . This is a horrifically disappointing statistic . It ' s particularly more worse when you know that 45 % of Food Bank usage in Saskatchewan is by those under the age of 18 . n e w s s a s k a t c h e w a n t o p s c a n a d ainchildrensfoodbankusage Food bank usage in general in Saskatchewan went up in 2016 by 17 . 5 % foodbankusagespike 1 . 3851132 . With more austerity and transformative change coming , one wonders what 2017 ' s numbers will look like a year from now .