Co-developed by Lisa Wolff and Ryan Voisin, this op-ed was published by The Hill Times in July 2024
The piece highlights the numerous bills focused on children currently languishing in Parliament. These bills, which cover a wide range of critical issues from school food programs to online privacy and a national child and youth strategy, represent significant steps towards improving the well-being of Canadian children. With Parliament in recess and an election on the horizon, we have heard from many champions of children’s well-being that there is an urgent need to bring these bills to the forefront of the legislative agenda.
▶︎ Read the article on The Hill Times website or a copy of the text below.
Parliament and schools are recessed for the summer, leaving bills for children behind
We need policymakers to create a vision for Canada by setting specific, measurable targets for children’s well-being, and working towards achieving them.
The school year is over for most kids, and Parliament is also on a summer break, leaving crucial unfinished business languishing on the table in the House of Commons and the Senate. There have rarely been so many bills focused on children at one time on the Hill, a function of the maturity of the 44th Parliament, and the MPs and Senators who have recognized children’s unmet needs and rights. Yet these initiatives have stalled, unable to gain the necessary traction to become law, their prospects dimming by the day as the current Parliament heads into an election.
Among the numerous bills left in legislative limbo are those addressing vital issues such as marketing to children, school food programs, online harms, online privacy, citizenship rights, physical punishment, the voting age, and a national child and youth strategy. Each of these bills represents a step toward creating a safer, healthier, and more equitable environment for Canadian children. Despite committee studies and advocacy efforts inside and outside Parliament, these bills have yet to cross the finish line.
These bills are not just paper tigers. They are a recognition of the multifaceted challenges facing our children and teens, and a willingness by parliamentarians of all parties in both the House and the Senate to bring a much-needed focus on the youngest generation—the one that can’t vote, and doesn’t appear on the lobbyist registry. However, the lack of progress also highlights a significant gap in our approach: the absence of a cohesive national child and youth strategy. Without clear targets and a unified vision, these well-intentioned initiatives risk fading into oblivion.
As we look towards the fall, these bills deserve a prominent place on the legislative agenda. Bill S-282 to establish a national strategy for children and youth in Canada has passed second reading, and has been referred to the Senate Social Affairs, Science, and Technology Committee. We can’t let critical bills like this stall out. We need policymakers to create a vision for Canada by setting specific, measurable targets for children’s well-being, and working towards achieving them. A 2020 UNICEF Report Card ranked Canada 30th out of 38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of child well-being, which most of us believe is unacceptable. In the coming spring, a new Report Card will tell us if Canada’s legislative and policy efforts since then have been enough to lift our children up.
Investing in children is not just a moral imperative—it is a social and economic one, as well. As hand-wringing continues about Canada’s stagnant GDP per capita, there is a clear path forward: childhood disadvantage costs Canada 2.7 per cent of GDP every year according to a new OECD report, so eliminating it with the right policies and services will improve economic growth. While cash transfers and early childhood education services help, they are still half-measures—not adequate or inclusive enough to benefit those from very low-income families, Indigenous communities, or racialized groups. Childhood socio-economic disadvantage leads to poorer health, and lower incomes in adulthood. This affects the country’s overall productivity and growth potential. Research consistently shows that every dollar invested in children’s social protection and care, health, and education yields significant returns in terms of productivity and societal stability.
As we take a summer break, let us not lose sight of the opportunities waiting on the parliamentary table. When we get back to business, let us harness the momentum we have built and push these critical bills across the finish line. The future of our children—and indeed, our nation—depends on it.
Lisa Wolff is director, policy and research at UNICEF Canada. Ryan Voisin is managing director of Inspiring Healthy Futures, a pan-Canadian, cross-sectoral network of champions for children’s health and well-being based at Children’s Healthcare Canada.