Because children are more vulnerable than adults. Because they have neither the right to vote nor political or economic influence. Because the healthy development of children is crucial for the future of society. For all these reasons, it is our duty to ensure that the rights of all children are respected.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
On the occasion of Big Toddler Week, let’s take a look at their situation and the measures to be taken collectively to ensure that their rights, even the most basic, are respected!
Meeting the basic needs of all children
The Canadian Index of Child and Youth Well-Being1 — this large portrait which examines, under many aspects, the situation of children2 in Canada – finds significant gaps between them based on their ethnicity, legal status, sex and gender identity, disability, economic security and geographic location.
Despite our country’s enviable economic situation, almost one in five Canadian children lives in a low-income family compared to the rest of society.
Giving every child the opportunity for a better life means ensuring that their parents have access to decent jobs, that they can live in safe and affordable housing, that they have enough nutritious food and that their other basic needs are met.
The environment in which children grow up has significant impacts on their health, development, educational success and their entire life course.
Placing early childhood at the heart of societal priorities
Putting toddlers at the forefront of societal priorities is possible by acting on a set of measures that influence their quality of life and overall health. Recognized measures that directly target children, others that support parents in their role as primary educators and still others that have an impact on the living conditions of toddlers.
These measures include essential policies tailored to the needs of families: early learning and child care, parental leave and income benefits for children. Today, these policies still leave too many children in poverty behind.
Reducing income and social inequality is both the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity of our time, and has the potential to have the greatest impact on all aspects of the lives of children in Canada.
In 2022, is it utopian to wish that no child lives in poverty and that, regardless of their gender, parents, origin, culture, language and even their state of mental or physical health, every child can grow up safe, free to play and learn, feel loved, included and valued, and have access to the resources needed to reach their full potential?
The full development of children is one of the determining factors for the well-being of any society. Together, let’s commit to our children, from day one and every day. We have a duty to do better!
2. “Children” refers in the Canadian Index to persons under the age of 18.
* Co-signatories: Doreen Assaad, President of Espace MUNI responsible for the Child-Friendly Municipalities program for Quebec; Lisa Wolff, UNICEF Canada