Community Foundations of Canada has released their 2008 report card on the quality of life in Canadian cities and there is plenty of room for improvement.

The report is called Vital Signs 2008 and suggests that not enough is being done to combat child poverty in our country. The report shows that in 2006, 23 percent of Canadian children were living in poverty, a number that has not changed in nearly two decades.

The annual quality of life report is an initiative by 15 community groups; it measures various aspects of quality of life and makes recommendations to bridge the gaps in communities across the country.

The report card found that in Ottawa, police are responding to calls faster, but paramedics are not reaching emergency response targets. Assistance for women needing emergency shelter needs improvement in Ottawa; the report shows that 90 percent of women who sought out emergency shelter in Ottawa were turned away because of a lack of resources.

The overall health of Ottawa residents was comparable to the national and provincial averages in all age groups, but the report found that only 86.5 percent of people in Ottawa 12 years of age and older had access to a family doctor, lower than the provincial average of 90.4 percent.

For a complete look at Ottawa's Vital Signs 2008, click here.

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