Canada needs children’s commissioner to protect its youngest citizens

ROSEMARY MOODIE, IRWIN ELMAN AND MALLORY JACKMAN

The full extent of Canadian children’s suffering during this pandemic remains unknown to policy-makers because children do not have an independent advocate. We know they are struggling with restrictions on seeing friends and family or going to school. We know their mental health has worsened: March saw a 350 per cent uptick in service demand from Kids Help Phone. We know that conditions have deteriorated for those who live in poverty, experience abuse or are awaiting medical procedures.

Yet, while we discuss how to help workers, seniors and industry, we remain blind to the full impact on children.

Children are systematically ignored and continue to struggle in silence. The eight million Canadians under18, nearly a quarter of the population, are unable to vote and support candidates who promote their well-being and interests. Ministers with portfolios related to children are influenced by political calculations that may not coincide with children’s interests. There is no prominent and consistent voice for children on the policy landscape. There is no prominent and consistent voice to advocate for children, examine the impact of legislation and to elevate their voices.

The system is failing Canadian children and youth. Despite being one of the most prosperous countries on the planet, Canada’s global ratings for children’s well-being have declined steadily over the past 15 years. The most recent UNICEF report ranks Canada 25th out of 41 OECD countries for child well-being, starkly contrasting an eighth-place ranking for prosperity. In their study “The Kids are Not Alright,” Children’s First Canada revealed that one in five Canadian children live in poverty and one in three experience child abuse before age 16.

Our system is failing young people inequitably. Half of First Nations children on reserve live below the poverty line, and the infant mortality rate in Nunavut is three times the national average. While all Canadian provinces/territories (except the Northwest Territories) have had a children’s advocate, lack of uniformity results in discrepancies in protection and provision of children’s rights.

Canada is among the few industrialized countries without an independent body to promote children’s rights, and can learn from others in law and policy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed how easily the well-being of children can be overlooked, especially when there is no unified mechanism in place to advocate on their behalf. It has also highlighted the importance of a healthy, well-educated population and workforce. The children of today are the workforce of tomorrow, and, by failing to invest in the development and protection of our youngest citizens, we are failing to invest in our future.

Canada cannot afford to continue silencing its children. Give our young people the voice they deserve. Give them a federal commissioner for children and youth.

Rosemary Moodie is an independent senator representing Ontario and a neonatologist and pediatrician. She is sponsor of bill S-217, an Act to establish the Office of the Commissioner for Children and Youth in Canada.

Irwin Elman was the Ontario Child and Youth Advocate from 2008 to 2019. He was president of the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates from 2013-2019. He is currently a global strategic advisor to Until the Last Child.

Mallory Jackman is a third-year medical student at the University of Toronto.