CCRC report on rights of children in Canada - Canadian Coalition ...

END NOTES
© Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children, by permission
While the strategy states that it complies with the Official Development Assistance Act passed by
parliament in 2008, it fails to show how it complies with international standards in children’s rights,
the second provision of the Act. There is no reference to the Convention, no recognition of the core
principles, including participation, and no mechanisms for transparency and accountability, which are
key elements in children’s rights.
With regard to the broader issue of international assistance, Canada continues to fall short of
earlier commitments to allocate 0.7% of GDP for international assistance. Funding for international
development will decline from 0.33% of GNI in 2010-11 to 0.28% in 2014-15.
Recommendations
ACTION
Integrate children’s rights into all aspects of CIDA’s
strategy for children.
Ask CIDA to show explicitly how its new strategy
for children complies with the Convention, including
areas like health and education.
Evaluate each of CIDA’s major country strategies
through a children’s rights lens to ensure that all
aspects of the development program respect the
rights of children.
Actors (Lead and Main Actors)
Canadian International Development
Agency
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Canadian International Development
Agency
1. Statistics Canada, “Population Projections: Canada and the Provinces”, The Daily, Ottawa, Statistics Canada,
May 26, 2010, available at www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/100526/dq100526b-eng.htm accessed September
7, 2011.
2. Battle, K., A Bigger and Better Child Benefit: A $5,000 Canada Child Tax Benefit, Ottawa, Caledon Institute
of Social Policy, January 2008, available at www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/668ENG.pdf accessed
September 7, 2011.
3. These <strong>report</strong>s are discussed in greater detail in the section on right to health.
4. For detailed information on the ‘Best Interest of the Child’ principle and its application in Canada, see the <strong>report</strong>
from a national multi-disciplinary conference sponsored by the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children
(<strong>CCRC</strong>) and others in 2009. Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children (<strong>CCRC</strong>), Best Interests of the Child:
Meaning and Application in Canada, Ottawa, <strong>CCRC</strong>, 2009, available at www.rightsofchildren.ca accessed
September 7, 2011.
5. Government of Canada, Early Childhood Development Agreement, Government of Canada, 2000, available at
www.unionsociale.gc.ca/ecd_e.html accessed September 7, 2011.
6. For more details on child participation in monitoring and <strong>report</strong>ing, see for example World Vision, Children
as Change Agents: Guidelines for child participation in periodic <strong>report</strong>s on the Convention on the Rights of
the Child. Mississauga, Ont., World Vision Canada, 2007, available at rightsofchildren.ca/wp-content/uploads/
Guidelines_for_Child_Participation_in_CRC_Reporting.pdf and www.crin.org/docs/Guidelines_for_Child_
Participation_in_CRC_Reporting.pdf accessed September 20, 2011. Plan, UNICEF, Save the Children, other
NGOs, and CIDA have resources on good practices for child participation in program development and policy
formation.
7. Supreme Court of Yukon, ‘Ruling on the Child’s Legal Rights to Be Heard’, B.J.G. v D.L.G, 2010 YKSC 44.
2010/08/26, available at www.yukoncourts.ca/judgements/supreme/2007/b_j_g_v_d_l_g_2010_YKSC_44.pdf
accessed September 11, 2011.
8. For detailed analysis of awareness of children’s rights, see <strong>report</strong> section: “Awareness of Children’s Rights in
Canada”.
9. Pearson, The Honourable Landon & Tara M. Collins, Not There Yet: Canada’s Implementation of the General
Measures of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Florence, UNICEF-Innocenti Research Centre and
UNICEF-Canada,August 2009, available at www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/canada_nty.pdf. accessed
September 7, 2011.
10. For more analysis of violence against children in Canada, see <strong>CCRC</strong>, “Violence against Children” research
<strong>report</strong>, Ottawa, <strong>CCRC</strong>, 2010, available at rightsofchildren.ca/wp-content/uploads/working-document-violenceagainst-children-research-<strong>report</strong>.pdf.
accessed September 7, 2011.
11. For more information from survey, see <strong>report</strong> section: “Awareness of Children’s Rights in Canada”.
12. UNICEF Canada, Save the Children, and the Ontario Children and Youth Advocate, Seen, Heard and Believed:
What Youth Say About Violence, Toronto, UNICEF Canada, Save the Children, and the Ontario Children and
Youth Advocate, 2006..
13. United Nations, “Report of the independent expert for the United Nations study on violence against children”,
UN Doc. A/61/299, 29 August 2006, www.unicef.org/violencestudy/<strong>report</strong>s/SG_violencestudy_en.pdf accessed
September 10, 2011. For details about Canada, see <strong>CCRC</strong>, “Violence against Children”, op cit.
14. See <strong>CCRC</strong>, “Civil Society Report on Canada’s Implementation of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children,
Child Prostitution and Child Pornography”, research <strong>report</strong>, Ottawa, <strong>CCRC</strong>, 2010, available at rightsofchildren.ca/
wp-content/uploads/working-document-sexual-exploitation-research-<strong>report</strong>.pdf, accessed September 7, 2011.
84 Right in principle, right in practice Children’s Rights and International Development End Notes 85