The well-being of our country’s children and youth is an issue that must transcend political ideology and partisanship, writes Del Graff.
This column is an opinion by Del Graff, the president of the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates, an association of government-appointed children’s advocates, ombudsmen and representatives from 10 provinces and two territories. For more information about CBC’s Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
Nelson Mandela once said, “there can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children.” By that measure, Canada would benefit from taking a moment to pause, look inward, and ask: how can we do better for our young people?
The answer lies in a piece of legislation that recently passed first reading in the Senate, Bill S-217: An Act to establish the Office of the Commissioner for Children and Youth in Canada.
This legislation is long overdue.
Back in 1997, former Senator Landon Pearson put forward a recommendation to establish a federal Commissioner for Canada’s Children. Since then, the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates, along with parliamentarians of various stripes and international bodies like UNICEF and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, have been calling on the federal government to give our country’s young people an independent voice.
In 2012, Liberal MP Marc Garneau introduced bill C-420: An Act to Establish the Office of the Commissioner for Children and Young Persons in Canada. The Liberal and New Democrat caucuses of the day both voted unanimously in support of the bill; however, Prime Minister Harper’s majority Conservative government defeated it on second reading.
Establishing an independent commissioner came to the forefront again in 2015, as an election campaign pledge by Justin Trudeau. In the five years since, a chorus of children’s advocates has called on the Liberal government and Prime Minister Trudeau to stand up for young people and fulfill this crucial promise.
Canada’s young people cannot wait any longer. The time to act is now.
As the Child and Youth Advocate for Alberta, I am often frustrated when young people, and adults concerned for their well-being, reach out to my office for help with issues that fall outside the scope of services we can provide under our provincial legislative mandate. Child support and custody arrangements, residency requirements and immigration status, and reforms to child welfare services for Indigenous children are examples of issues that fall under federal jurisdiction.
A national children’s commissioner could advocate for young people affected by these issues, and influence federal policy decisions to improve the health, social and economic outcomes for all children and youth across the country.
Ensuring there is a national representative who has the legislated responsibility