THE STANDING SENATE COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL AFFAIRS, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
EVIDENCE
OTTAWA, Wednesday, November 26, 2025
The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology met with videoconference this day at 4:15 p.m. [ET], to study Bill S-212, An Act respecting a national strategy for children and youth in Canada; and, in camera, for consideration of a draft agenda (future business).
Senator Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler (Deputy Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Deputy Chair: My name is Flordeliz (Gigi) Osler. I am a senator from Manitoba and the deputy chair of the committee.
Before we begin, I would like to have senators introduce themselves.
Senator McPhedran: Senator Marilou McPhedran from Manitoba.
Senator Senior: Senator Paulette Senior from Ontario.
Senator Burey: Sharon Burey, Ontario.
[Translation]
Senator Boudreau: Good afternoon. Victor Boudreau from New Brunswick.
[English]
Senator Arnold: Dawn Arnold, also from New Brunswick.
Senator Hay: Katherine Hay, Ontario.
[Translation]
Senator Petitclerc: Chantal Petitclerc from Quebec.
[English]
Senator Moodie: Rosemary Moodie, Ontario.
Senator Greenwood: Margo Greenwood, British Columbia.
Senator Muggli: Tracy Muggli, Treaty 6 territory, Saskatchewan.
The Deputy Chair: Today, we are continuing our study of Bill S-212, An Act respecting a national strategy for children and youth in Canada.
Joining us today for the first panel, we welcome, in person, from Collectif petite enfance, Elise Bouchard-Bonneville, Director; and Julie Cailliau, Director, Early Childhood Observatory. By video conference, we welcome, from Kids Help Phone, Andréanne Deschamps, Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Services and Operations; and Laetitia Satam, Co-Chair, Kids Help Phone’s National Youth Council. From the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates, we welcome Lisa Broda, President and Advocate for Children and Youth, Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth’s Office; and Marci Macomber, Executive Director, Investigations and Systemics, Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth’s Office.
Thank you all for joining us today. You will each have five minutes for your opening statement, followed by questions from committee members.
Ms. Deschamps and Ms. Satam, you will be sharing your five minutes. We will begin with Ms. Deschamps followed by Ms. Satam.
Andréanne Deschamps, Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Services and Operations, Kids Help Phone: Honourable chair and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. My name is Andréanne Deschamps, Senior Vice President of Clinical Services at Kids Help Phone, or KHP, Canada’s national 24-7 e-mental health service for young people. For over 36 years, we have delivered equitable and immediate support from coast to coast to coast. Our service is free, multilingual and confidential. We offer support by phone, text, online messaging and through our self-directed resources, including the largest community resource database in Canada for young people.
We are here to express our support for Bill S-212, which seeks to establish a national strategy for children. While Kids Help Phone is not a legal advocacy organization, our perspective is informed by what we hear from young people every day. And we know that 75% of young people have told Kids Help Phone something that they have never shared with anyone else.
Canada signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, committing to protect every child from discrimination and support their rights to life, development and participation. Article 24 of the convention affirms the right of every child to the highest attainable standard of health, which must include mental health.
However, the data shows Canada is not quite meeting the mark. For young people aged 15 to 34, suicide is the second-leading cause of death, and 22% of the texting interactions with Kids Help Phone are about suicide. We conduct an average of eight calls to emergency services every day for young people at risk of harm, and 9% of service users said they would have gone to the emergency room if they hadn’t spoken to Kids Help Phone.
Young people need support, from front-line service organizations like Kids Help Phone, their families and their communities, but also from all levels of government.
[Translation]
Kids Help Phone is a recognized partner of the Government of Canada, not only for its services, but also for its programs and support for Indigenous youth, Black youth, and youth who are new to Canada. Bill S-212 proposes a framework to strengthen accountability, improve programs, and stimulate action for the benefit of young people in Canada. Kids Help Phone can contribute to this through its data and expertise with young people, both in consultations and in the resulting reports.
[English]
We support this bill and urge the committee to advance it and ensure that mental health is central to the strategy. I will now pass my time to Laetitia Satam. Thank you.
Laetitia Satam, Co-Chair, Kids Help Phone’s National Youth Council, Kids Help Phone: Thank you, chair and other members of the committee
I began volunteering with Kids Help Phone when I was just 12 years old. Today, I have the privilege of serving as Co-Chair of Kids Help Phone’s National Youth Council.
In this study of Bill S-212, I want to highlight the need for young people to be seen, heard and valued in government programs and decisions that shape our lives today and into the future, as well as for the strategy to focus youth mental health as a key priority.
The KHP National Youth Council is made up of youth aged 14 to 24 from across Canada with a passion for mental health and well-being.
Our council influences decision making, strategy and programming at KHP. I am cross-appointed to the Kids Help Phone board to ensure youth have a clear voice on the most senior governing body at the organization.
This is essential to ensure that Kids Help Phone stays connected to the needs and values of young people. For example, the National Youth Council participated in engagement sessions for Kids Help Phone’s development of a generative AI tool. We provided our input on the use cases we want to see, safety parameters and purpose of the tool, which has been incorporated into the design and focus of early prototypes.
Co-designing with youth ensures new products will help us and reflect our lived experiences, particularly youth from equity-deserving communities.
I share this example because Bill S-212 calls for consultation with children and youth, and I argue that we should not just be invited to the table — we should set the agenda. A national strategy should reflect the diversity of young people in Canada.
Young people live the realities this strategy aims to address. When youth voices are missing, governments fail to connect with those they are meant to serve.
Thank you for this opportunity to address the committee. We look forward to your questions.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you very much. Ms. Broda, your five minutes start now.
Lisa Broda, President and Advocate for Children and Youth, Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth’s Office, Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates: Good afternoon, honourable chair and members of the committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today on Bill S-212. I have Marci Macomber appearing with me, and we are pleased to be here today.
I am joining you from Treaty 6 territory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Our council spans all treaty and unceded territories, and in the spirit of reconciliation, we honour all First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples throughout Canada.
Our council members are independent appointed children’s advocates, representatives and ombudsmen in the provinces and territories, who hold explicit legislative mandates to protect the rights of young people who receive public services.
We work together to identify mutual concerns and address national issues impacting children while respecting jurisdictional boundaries, such as Quebec, which does not provide comment on this bill as cited in our brief.
It is the position of the council that a national strategy for children and youth is required. This committee has heard at length from other witnesses how, despite the many programs and plans in place to meet the needs of children in Canada, we continue to fail to live up to our obligations to them.
The committee has heard about Canada’s disappointing ranking among its peers with respect to child well-being and how this shows that children and their interests are not being prioritized in a systematic and effective manner.
Our council shares these significant concerns and sees the impact of this failure for children across jurisdictions on the ground every day.
As a First World country, we cannot be satisfied with this. We are encouraged that the bill includes many of the structural elements identified as necessary by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, or UNCRC, in its General comment No. 5, which includes grounding the bill in the UNCRC and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; including the voices of children and youth in the strategy, not just the development, but beyond; ensuring the identification of priorities, benchmarks, targets and key actions; and ensuring the use of evidence-based assessments with a plan to address any unmet targets.
These are critical elements for a strategy to be actionable, accountable and effective.
However, there are several areas in which we feel the bill could be strengthened following the guidance of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
You will find our full list of our recommendations in our written brief. I will touch on just a few here.
We have seen many examples where governments at all levels have failed to honour their promises to prioritize young people. There have been too many plans of action and agendas for children at the federal, provincial and territorial levels that have been invested in, then disregarded, such as the Canada 2004 Action Plan.
Our council has the same concerns. Most provincial and territorial governments have not taken steps to develop or implement coordinated strategies for children and youth, or, if they have, these have lacked concrete commitments for improvement, eventually disappearing from political consciousness or both.
Accordingly, we need a legislated national strategy that will ensure the rights, interests and well-being of young people remain at the forefront of decision making at all levels of government, regardless of election cycles or turnover in government leads.
The strategy must also ensure accountability to the public but most importantly to children and youth. Regarding federal-provincial-territorial coordination, as the bill is currently written, it acknowledges the benefit of cross-jurisdictional collaboration and requires Canada to consult with provincial and municipal governments in the development of a strategy.
However, from the perspective of the council, this does not go far enough. The issues impacting everyday lives of young people fall largely under provincial and territorial jurisdiction.
Therefore, we recommend that the bill commit to not just consult but support the governments in developing their own strategies that would feed into the overall goals of the national strategy, while also meeting the unique needs of children in their own jurisdictions and incorporating the structural elements identified in the framework bill.
From our experience, it is these elements that are lacking in provincial initiatives to move the needle on children’s rights in an actionable, accountable and effective way.
We acknowledge the jurisdictional challenges that may exist in this regard. Admittedly, I do not know specifics of the most appropriate constitutional path forward in this matter, but I encourage this committee take this into consideration.
If there is anything that all levels of government can cooperate on, it should be to move this forward.
With respect to accountability, our council also recommends the committee consider amendments to strengthen language regarding ongoing consultation with children and youth, as well as public monitoring.
As currently written, the bill leaves a potential loophole to neglect the implementation of these measures. Our council asserts that ongoing consultation with children and public monitoring mechanisms ought to be legislated requirements rather than optional components.
Last, our council recommends further strengthening promotion of public awareness, particularly to disseminate throughout all levels of government, to the public and directly to children and youth.
The strategy ought to require an action plan to ensure young people are informed of the strategy, how it can impact their lives and how they can have their voices heard in its implementation and evaluation.
It is our hope that this bill will move forward quickly to uphold the rights of children and youth under the UNCRC. It is critical to recognize the special vulnerabilities of children and effectively address the complex issues that impact young people in all spheres of their lives.
Thank you for your time and the opportunity to be part of this witness panel. We would be pleased to take questions from the committee. Thank you very much.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you, Ms. Broda. Ms. Bouchard-Bonneville and Ms. Cailliau, you will be sharing your five minutes.
[Translation]
Elise Bouchard-Bonneville, Director, Collectif petite enfance: Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members, for welcoming me as a representative of the Collectif petite enfance — early childhood collective — which brings together 23 national networks from diverse sectors, including representatives from educational child care services, community organizations, organizations working in perinatal care, in food insecurity, in student retention, in municipal settings and in literacy, and finally, organizations representing diverse realities such as those of fathers, First Nations and English-speaking individuals. We share a common goal, which is to support the optimal overall development of all young children, with a focus on equity.
Therefore, we have analyzed this bill in terms of its potential to effectively support early childhood development. We support the development of a clear strategy in this area.
A shared ambition across the country can certainly help create synergies among the provinces and territories. We also believe that the proposed development, evaluation and monitoring processes are promising, as they enable civil society in all its diversity to be involved.
Public policies must reflect this need for cross-sectoral work, and that includes decision-makers. Legislators would benefit from making more decision-makers accountable for the development of the strategy.
That said, without diminishing the importance of having high national ambitions, it is essential that decisions affecting children be made as close as possible to them and their families. Those decisions must be grounded in the children’s specific reality.
This may seem paradoxical in relation to the idea of pan-Canadian targets. However, the exercise works if, rather than focusing on targets, we develop a broad set of common indicators that promote a shared vision but tailored responses. Otherwise, since advocacy organizations will have a role to play in promoting the strategy and these results, it would be desirable for clause 6 to provide for immediate sharing instead.
We also suggest that the national strategy be renewed every 10 years to ensure a continuous cycle of learning and improvement.
Finally, like the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission, we would like to highlight the intention and efforts made in this bill to improve the well-being of children in Canada. However, it is essential that the text be improved to clearly reaffirm the right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination.
I am also accompanied by the director of the Early Childhood Observatory, a scientific ally of the Collectif petite enfance.
Julie Cailliau, Director, Early Childhood Observatory, Collectif petite enfance: Thank you, Madam Deputy Chair and members of the committee, for welcoming us to this consultation.
My name is Julie Cailliau and I am the director of the Early Childhood Observatory, a non-profit organization whose mission is to communicate the state of knowledge in order to inform decision-making in early childhood in Quebec, so that every young child has access to the conditions that ensure the development of their full potential, regardless of the environment in which they are born and raised. The observatory maintains a dashboard of more than 160 indicators on early childhood in Quebec that have been identified and recognized by the scientific community. We also publish reports on various issues affecting early childhood.
This period, from pregnancy to age five, is a key period in human development. Young children’s experiences can leave lasting marks and lead to problems later in life. A good understanding of this period helps guide effective interventions to support each child’s development.
This is one of the reasons why the WHO and the OECD recommend adopting a comprehensive approach to early childhood. The most effective actions are those that combine direct interventions with children and broader interventions that address all the environments in which young children grow up, with a focus on prevention. Taking preventive action means, in particular, aiming to improve the living conditions of young children, which illustrates the importance of taking a broad view of public policy. Early childhood is not limited to access to health care or the network of educational services for children.
It is also important to pay particular attention to children who experience inequality and to take into account disparities among communities. These needs vary from one region to another and from one family to another, requiring collaboration between different departments, levels of government and sectors, including community organizations and non-profit organizations. Coordination is key to ensuring that the right services are provided at the right time for every young child.
Thank you for your attention.
[English]
The Deputy Chair: Thank you to all the witnesses for your testimony. We will now proceed to questions from committee members. For this panel, senators — and I am going to be very sharp with my timekeeping — you have four minutes for your question, and that includes the answer. Please indicate if your question is directed to a particular witness or all witnesses.
Senator Hay: Welcome, everybody. It’s great to see you all and great to see my friends from KHP. My question will go to KHP but also to everyone.
I often say one-size-fits-all fits no one very well, so my question is this: Can you share how a distinction-based, non-static strategy works for youth and youth mental health and why that is not only important but informs co-creation, decision-making as well as focused key performance indicators, or KPIs?
Ms. Deschamps: Thank you for that question, senator. At Kids Help Phone, we support young people from equity-deserving communities, including young people from Indigenous communities — so First Nations, Métis and Inuit. We have developed a distinctions-based approach because, as you mentioned earlier, a one-size-fits-all approach does not work for everyone.
The way we operationalized that at Kids Help Phone is that we are listening to the needs of the different communities across Canada from a distinctions-based approach. We are listening to the voices of young people and Indigenous communities who tell organizations like ours what their needs are and how we can best meet those needs in their own communities. So it is not about us deciding what is best for them; they are guiding our strategy and the implementation of that strategy across communities within Canada.
In terms of measures of success, there are a number of things we have to look at: What are young people telling us? Is the service meeting their needs? How is that evolving over time? Are we looking at who is contacting us, and how does that meet the needs of those communities across Canada? Do we have representation? Do we bring that within our work as well? Do we have representation within our own sector, within our own services, so that they can relate to the services that are being offered and, in turn, feel confident that the services that they are reaching out to are relatable and have been developed for them and with them along the way?
Senator Hay: Thank you. Would anyone else like to add something?
[Translation]
Ms. Bouchard-Bonneville: When it comes to learning in Quebec, I believe that it really comes down to network complementarity. So, to add to what my colleague on the screen mentioned, having complementary public and community networks allows for very close access to toddlers and children. Their needs will complement each other.
When it comes to young children, of course, when we talk about development, we can think of the most vulnerable populations, so we need to have a proportional universalism approach, for example, which is an approach that meets the needs of populations, but places greater emphasis on populations that live with or accumulate vulnerabilities.
Did you want to say anything?
Ms. Cailliau: I wanted to talk about the same topics as you.
Ms. Bouchard-Bonneville: Great.
[English]
Senator McPhedran: Thank you to all of the witnesses here in person as well as joining us online.
I want to ask each of you to reflect on and share with us the notion of engagement — and, in particular, participation — and to address that by referring to the proposed framework and where you see yourselves contributing. Where are the key areas for participation for your organizations?
[Translation]
Ms. Bouchard-Bonneville: I invite my colleague from the Early Childhood Observatory to answer.
Ms. Cailliau: There is an interesting aspect to the project that concerns the definition of indicators to determine where we stand collectively in terms of children’s health, development and well-being. At the Early Childhood Observatory, we have collaborated with the scientific community to identify indicators that reflect the various aspects of child development, to investigate the protective factors and risk factors involved in this development, and to understand where development is being put at risk. A good way to contribute to the work would be to discuss this framework of indicators.
[English]
Senator McPhedran: But my question is a little different. It regards this: Where do you see your way in? Where do you see the pathway for participation in the existing bill? Is it just by invitation? Do you feel that the framework is clear enough about how essential it is to have your participation?
Ms. Broda: Thank you. From an engagement point of view, in terms of our role at the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates, but also in our respective jurisdictions, provincial and territorial, we are legislated to monitor all services to children and youth. Our legislations all look different across the country.
Certainly, because of our legislative mandates and our ability to make recommendations and monitor under our legislative authorities, our contribution to the bill — aside from our contributions to the bill and to the committee on this — is that we are able to compel the government with regard to what they’re reporting. On the strategy, we can obtain all the data they have, get information from the governments involved and hold them to task to ensure they follow through with the requirements of any national strategy.
That would go through every single component of the strategy, with respect to data gathering and monitoring. We can also report out publicly. It’s within our legislation to report publicly whatever is in the interest of children and youth. All the civil societies who have contributed to, and advocate for, children are great. How we differentiate with that — along with them — is that we’re able to compel all of that in our respective provinces and territories, and that will be a significant and critical contribution to the strategy.
Senator Moodie: Thank you to the witnesses who are with us today. I want to ask the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates to help me understand something. You work directly with children in care, vulnerable people and young people. What systemic barriers do you see that could be better addressed through a coordinated national framework? Lisa?
Ms. Broda: Thank you. In our respective provinces, we each have oversight to the services to children and youth in every child-serving sector, but our legislations all look different. Could you repeat your question, Senator Moodie?
Senator Moodie: Particularly for those children who are very vulnerable, such as racialized children and so on, how would a national strategy help you to work with these groups?
The other side of it is this: Do you have established mechanisms to work with the federal government at the provincial level, where a partnership around the national strategy could work, in terms of cooperating and collaborating across jurisdictions?
Ms. Broda: We try to influence the federal government. Our jurisdictional boundaries to our legislated mandates are to our provinces and territories, but that doesn’t preclude the fact that we try to infiltrate at the federal level, whenever we can, with the ministers for children or whatever the portfolio is. What we could do that would be valuable is sit on the committee for the national strategy, or if it moves forward, we could be part of that, and then have that connection. It wouldn’t be a legal connection or a jurisdictional connection, because our limits are to our province’s boundaries. But what is important about what you’re saying is that every vulnerability that children face and the special populations, Indigenous children, for instance, or any other special populations as well, but children are, as a whole, a vulnerable group. We see the same issues everybody else does, and the priorities of the strategy are going to be key to addressing some of the massive issues we see with children, where Canada hasn’t fulfilled their obligations in that regard.
Our role is limited in terms of our provinces and territories, but for my province, I have a wide power to compel information of any kind through our investigation arm. So if the strategy were to go to fruition, and we were able to connect that way, we can bring that information back to the committee, having a connection with whatever committee or leader body that is going to be moving the strategy forward and working on implementation.
Marci Macomber, Executive Director, Investigations and Systemics, Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth’s Office, Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates: I would add that in our provinces, we’ve made many attempts to make systemic change and advance systemic priorities, and we are effective in that way. But there are times when government action on those types of things may fall down or to the wayside, so if we’re looking for a national strategy — as Lisa said in her opening statement — to have some mechanism to support provinces and territories to create their own strategies that embed those specific structural elements, like targets, key actions and accountability mechanisms, they then have to feed into the national strategy. We think that would help move the needle forward on things like that.
Senator Muggli: My question is for Ms. Broda. It’s nice to see you, Lisa. My question is similar. I want to note that I appreciate the difficult work you do, from investigation to making recommendations, and I recognize that, at times, those recommendations seem to fall on deaf ears. I’m wondering if this strategy, this bill, can amplify the work that you’re trying to put forward. How might you use it to amplify, or can it be used to augment when you’re making recommendations in your reports?
Ms. Broda: Thank you, and nice to see you too, senator. In my opening, when I said that I admittedly don’t know the exact constitutional pass between the feds and provinces and territories, we know that there has to be a supportive strategy as an incentive to have the provinces and territories pick it up. We’ve seen this before in the federal daycare policies, early learning and mental health, where the provinces can pick up when there’s a budget or financial incentive, which is obviously required and needs to be a resources strategy, and it will help the provinces and territories pick it up.
As Marci just mentioned, and as I am living it out here in Saskatchewan, we have a Saskatchewan strategy for children and youth here that the government has put out, but what is missing and what we’ve advocated for over the past few years is to have all of the things needed: a benchmark, targets, actions and outcome measures. The indicators are key as well, in terms of how we are doing with child rights and where that is. We need all those things, and unfortunately they are lacking here in Saskatchewan.
We’ve been working hard on that for about three and a half years. To your question, and to bridge back, the incentive could be similar because what is important here. Again, I don’t know the constitutional pathway on this, so I would invite the committee to think about that. I don’t have that answer, but it’s a good question to ask with regard to what that interface will be.
Our role can only be within the confines of our provinces and territories, but our role can be with the federal government. I have gone to many events with the federal government over the years and influence where I can, as the president of our council on behalf of all 12 of us across the country, and we bring that back to our respective provinces and territories in whatever way we can.
I’m not sure it answers the question, but the key part of that is that’s something to consider about how we move that forward in that regard, with those barriers — for lack of a better word — to support the government and not just by consulting on the strategy. That is going to be key.
Senator Muggli: You’re emphasizing the challenge we always have with jurisdictional issues, and we have to be mindful of that. I appreciate that response. Thank you.
Senator Burey: Thank you, everyone, for being here. I want to give a shout-out to our colleague Senator Hay and the Kids Help Phone before, during and subsequent to the pandemic, as noted, for the tremendous work that you have done, and continue to do.
This is a bill that everybody wants. I’m going to put that on the table, but as usual, the devil is in the details, and we want to get it right. You’re seeing from this committee’s inquiry that we want to ensure that when we get through everything, it’s going to make a difference. I heard a number of things, such as “nothing about us without us,” “one size doesn’t fit all” and the importance of the consultations between territories, provinces and Indigenous governing bodies, as well as federally.
One of the things we talked about in the beginning — and you made so many recommendations, which I’m going to ask you to flesh out a bit more — was whether this big bill is too general, because many of you came with some specific recommendations. I know we won’t have enough time to go around the table, so if you could start with fleshing out some of your specific recommendations.
We heard about the jurisdictional issues. I would like to hone in on the youth engagement part of it and to flesh out some of those specifics. We don’t want to be too general; otherwise, nothing will get done. Could you comment on that?
Ms. Satam: Thank you so much, senator, for your question.
Absolutely — I think the National Youth Council at Kids Help Phone can almost serve as a framework for what this bill hopes to accomplish in terms of its youth consultation and youth engagement. I’ve been with Kids Help Phone for almost a decade now, and I’ve seen a lot of different organizations almost try to emulate what Kids Help Phone does. But at the core of what Kids Help Phone does is ensuring that the youth voice is implemented at every step.
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, I also serve on the board of directors at Kids Help Phone, where I am a voting member and actively engage in the conversation, and as part of my role as the Co-Chair of the National Youth Council on the board, I’m regularly participating in our development of resources, like developing a new generative AI tool, conducting focus groups with other diverse youth, directly hearing from them on their lived experiences and also compiling all that information in a way that Kids Help Phone is able to actively respond to the rapidly evolving needs of youth.
When I think about Bill S-212, first, I absolutely think that youth mental health needs to be a priority of this bill. We see that currently one in two youth in Canada struggle with their mental health, and a bill that’s not directly addressing youth mental health will have a major gap, in my opinion. I also think we see a lot of really great ways that the Senate is engaging with youth, such as having their own youth councils. With this bill specifically, too, having a youth council in that realm may also be useful, so youth can directly talk on what their most current pressing needs are. A lot of it right now is about artificial intelligence, or AI, but we don’t know what that will be five years from now.
I’ll pass it on to my colleague Andréanne Deschamps to see if she has anything else to add there as well.
Ms. Deschamps: Yes, I think it is important to look at the different models from a governance perspective and implementation to ensure that we are speaking to the different stakeholders, including young people. There are also a lot of silent voices, the young people we may not hear about. But they struggle, and they need support from us and from government.
Kids Help Phone has the largest data set on youth mental health in Canada —
Senator Burey: I think we’re out of time. Thank you very much.
The Deputy Chair: Ms. Deschamps, thank you for that, but unfortunately, Senator Burey is out of time.
Senator Senior: Thank you, and I may be building on where you left off.
I was noting some of the things that were said. I think it was Elise Bouchard-Bonneville or Julie Cailliau who mentioned the word “complementary,” and I wanted to understand the context of that a bit more.
I also wanted to get a little bit at the structure that would facilitate national strategies such as this that would not be yet another thing that doesn’t work and that doesn’t get to the core issues. I think that’s the problem sometimes, and we do live in a federation in terms of different jurisdictional powers, not just with provinces and territories, but First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples.
I’m curious about what you think a structure would look like that would help to ensure that this doesn’t miss the mark and can actually be a useful tool, if we get the strategy right. What would that structure look like, or what would the interface be to ensure that youth voices are heard and that it’s not just from the workers or the staff of the organizations who — I’m assuming — is what is meant by “complementary.”
[Translation]
Ms. Bouchard-Bonneville: Thank you for the question. In Quebec, one of the things we learn is to focus on early childhood expertise. It is essential to think about the development of young children and their well-being from an interdisciplinary perspective: the environment in which they grow up, the people they grow up with and the people who will be involved in their lives.
When consulting with young children, this particularity is essential: We must consider the parents, who are the primary actors in their lives, but we must also consider the development and well-being of children in the context of the living conditions in which they grow up. If we want to have targets or indicators, we must not only consider the optimal and overall development of human skills, but also the conditions in which they grow up.
In Quebec, the Early Childhood Observatory takes a more interdisciplinary approach to studying how toddlers and children develop. When we think about what needs to be captured, we must not forget the perinatal period, which is the period when we develop our families. Everything happens during that period. It is the beginning of a child’s development and well-being, starting at the beginning of pregnancy. One of the lessons we have learned in Quebec, which can be applied internationally or in other provinces, is the importance of considering the perinatal period as a key period on which society can act and on which we must focus when it comes to offering full development and capabilities.
There is another element in Quebec. I’m talking about the family policy that enables us to have three main pillars, including child education service networks and parental leave for families. In Quebec, we promote policies that support families’ ability to develop so that they can provide their children with as much as possible of what they need. The policies on which the province is relying need to be studied. Those are the points I would like to make.
[English]
Senator Senior: I’d love to also hear from Ms. Broda, if I have time. I do not have time.
[Translation]
Senator Petitclerc: Thank you to our witnesses for being here to help us with this study.
I would like to ask a question about early childhood. We have discussed this strategy and the overall vision of what we want for our children. We have heard from a number of witnesses who agree on this overall vision with common values, but we need to focus on the specifics; we have talked about this a lot and it’s a challenge.
I know this is not really your area of expertise, but while listening to everyone, I realized that there is a group with even more special needs. I’m not sure how we’re going to succeed, with this strategy, in ensuring that these children are also covered and protected. I’m talking about children and toddlers with disabilities. I recognize that this is not your area of expertise.
Before I hear from you, I’m going to talk about an experience I had last week. I was at the Grande Bibliothèque, and since we’re currently studying this bill, I was on the lookout. There was a cooking workshop for toddlers, which I thought was fantastic from an inclusion perspective, as it included toddlers from diverse backgrounds and speaking different languages. It suddenly occurred to me that everyone could be there, except toddlers with disabilities.
Here is my question, which is very broad. How can we ensure that such a strategy does not leave children with disabilities behind?
Ms. Cailliau: The Early Childhood Observatory published a report in 2023 on young children in need of special support. What the report highlighted was that these children experience inequalities in access to services, such as educational child care, health care and waiting times. The first step is to monitor and highlight these issues, and then to identify possible courses of action.
One of the courses of action proposed in the report was to focus not on diagnoses, but on needs, and to involve parents in that conversation. Complementarity is another part of the answer: We must ensure that we look at all aspects of the situation.
When we talk about proportionate universalism, we are also thinking of young children who need special support. We need to think of measures that will benefit all children, while adjusting the intensity according to where those measures will make the biggest difference.
In Quebec, we know that access to educational child care services is widespread and that we have a truly excellent network. However, we also know that some young children who would particularly benefit from these services have less access to them proportionally. So, we start by monitoring the situation, and once we have identified the areas where more intensive action will make a difference, we need to focus our interventions in those areas.
Senator Petitclerc: This is something that can be done through a strategy, I imagine, if we choose to pay attention to it?
Ms. Cailliau: This once again touches on complementarity. Recognizing a situation is the first step; then, consultation between the various stakeholders must be ensured, as we often realize that this is the key to responding precisely to needs in the right way.
Senator Petitclerc: Thank you.
[English]
Senator Greenwood: Thank you to all the witnesses for being here. This really follows up on Senator Petitclerc’s question. As I was listening to everybody, I heard a lot of you talk about distinctions-based versus one-size-fits-all, and that’s often really difficult to do. I really think about children with diverse needs and abilities and, in the work you do, how you are including them. I think you have started down that path with your response from our guests here in the room. We’re talking about a national strategy. How do we pick the pieces that go into that? We want the optimal best for all children. That’s a given. But there is great diversity. There are different needs and abilities. There are different backgrounds. I speak a lot about Indigenous children and racialized children. How do we ensure a bill of this nature is inclusive of that and that each of these pieces gets the attention it deserves in all of these areas? I don’t even know all of the areas, so I would like your best advice.
The Deputy Chair: Senator Greenwood, there are three witnesses online who have their hands up. Would you like to start there?
Senator Greenwood: Oh, I love it. Ms. Deschamps, please.
[Translation]
Ms. Deschamps: Thank you for your question.
This is an important issue. At Kids Help Phone, we’ve given a great deal of thought to how to be inclusive in our services, especially because we have a national reach. The way we do this is through our intentions. How can we reach as many young people as possible?
However, we need to identify the populations that are most at risk, the most vulnerable, and develop strategies, name these populations and have clear action plans that are built with these communities. When we consider the needs of young people who are most disadvantaged, most at risk, most vulnerable, or who have special needs, if we build our strategies and services around their needs, we know that we are starting from a common denominator that can serve as many people as possible.
Here’s an example: At Kids Help Phone, all of our services are online. You could say that it’s more complicated for a young person with hearing loss to access our services. We have formed partnerships with centres of expertise for young people with hearing impairments to develop our services in a way that reaches them. Now is the time to unite the voices of these populations and develop networks and partnerships so that the strategies that will be put in place can reach the target population and be successful with that population. The pooling of shared expertise will ensure good service delivery.
[English]
Ms. Broda: Thank you so much. Yes, I am following my colleague there exactly. But from the council’s perspective, the framework is strong, and your question is big and important because that is the question: How do we get everything in? Consulting with children and youth on this throughout the process, beyond the process, must be included. If we are living up to the preamble in this framework bill, then children and youth need to be consulted about what matters most to them. Not everything can be done in the strategy; I agree with you. I think there is a way to get to the first five years — what do we need to be doing?
For us as a council, mental health is one of the top issues we see across the country. Maybe that’s one of the priorities, but it is not up to us to decide that either. Certainly, in consultation with young people and a committee of who needs to be there when and if this moves forward — when, I am positive — and when this goes through, but again, that’s a key consideration, like what goes into a strategy?
With the framework bill, from our view, all the components are there. Strengthening it requires young people at the table as per Article 12 and their right to participate. We would like to see that added. That’s one of our recommendations.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you. That is the end of your time, senator. Colleagues, that brings us to the end of our time for round one. I know there are senators on round two. With your permission, may we ask that you read your question into the record and invite our witnesses to provide the committee with a written response — if that’s acceptable to all our witnesses? Okay. Thank you. We have three senators on second round.
Senator McPhedran: I’m going to pick up on my previous question and ask you to give some thought to — looking at the framework and the bill — what the ways into the process and the bill to bring your messages, data and information are. Also, where do you see accountability on the part of the government in the bill?
Senator Moodie: From your perspective, what is the greatest gap in Canada’s current approach to children and youth policy that Bill S-212 would help to address?
Senator Burey: Just to get it on the record from all of our witnesses, why do you think it is important that mental health be specifically indicated in a bill such as this in terms of a children’s strategy?
The Deputy Chair: Senators, this brings us to the end of the first panel. Thank you to the witnesses again for your testimony today.
For our next panel, to hear from youth voices, we welcome by video conference, from CARE Canada, Shreya Rao, Youth Champion; and from Children First Canada, Josephine Maharaj, Youth Advisor. Thank you both for joining us today. You will each have five minutes for your opening statement, followed by questions from committee members. Ms. Rao, the floor is yours.
Shreya Rao, Youth Champion, CARE Canada: Dear chair and honourable senators, thank you for having us here today.
I am a youth activist and entrepreneur. I am a Youth Public Engagement Champion at CARE Canada, where I advocate for gender equality and other issues that shape the future of young people across the country.
Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees that children who are capable of forming their own views have the right to express them in all matters affecting them and that those views must be given due weight in accordance with a child’s age and maturity.
I want to emphasize that all policies that are being created affect young people. On issues like poverty, health, affordability and sustainability, young people are still treated as passive beneficiaries, not partners. The “age and maturity” qualifier often undermines our lived experience because of the assumption that age correlates to maturity.
Bill S-212 offers a starting point to ensure that youth are consulted in these conversations. The current system is broken. Government programs aimed at youth engagement are almost performative. The Prime Minister’s Youth Council barely exists in practice, and government websites bury information behind endless hoops, inaccessible to a generation that is digitally savvy and expects clarity and efficiency. Opportunities for youth are often limited to the well connected or the university educated, while those most affected by injustice are systematically excluded. Youth from marginalized, rural or Indigenous communities rarely see themselves reflected in policy discussions, and when they are included, it is often tokenistic. Consultation is only the first step. Meaningful engagement looks like the co-creation of policies implemented in Canada. We need radical accessibility, inclusion and power-sharing.
First, programs must actively seek youth from all backgrounds and remove the barriers that keep them out, like digital divides, transportation issues, uncompensated labour and bureaucratic red tape. Youth must not only be invited to the table, but empowered to shape the agenda with clear decision-making authority.
Second, policies engaging youth must have quantifiable goals, deadlines and public reporting so that participation leads to real change, not empty promises.
From my experience consulting with youth, I’ve seen what works when we are treated as equals. Youth brings bold solutions because we are not confined by “the way it’s always been done.” We demand accountability, and we expect a follow-up. Meaningful participation builds leadership: It empowers youth with confidence, knowledge and responsibility to continue serving their communities long after the consultation period ends.
If Canada implements these strategies, we can build policies that reflect the realities of those most affected, cultivate the next generation of leaders and finally make Canada a global example of genuine youth engagement and democratic innovation. Engaging with young people means more than inviting a few names into a room like this.
We cannot write policies for youth while they remain far removed from spaces of decision making. True engagement requires meeting youth where they are, in their communities, schools, workplaces and online spaces where they live and interact. It means creating opportunities for young people to participate in your work, actively seeking opinions and values and designing policies in collaboration with them.
Youth engagement is not a check box; it is a deliberate, ongoing effort to build relationships, listen deeply and ensure that the voices shaping decisions reflect the realities of those most affected.
The bill demands a strategy that includes measurable indicators and regular reporting back to Parliament. This means youth — once consulted — will see their input translated into concrete targets and progress measurements, followed by public accountability.
As I prepared for today, I couldn’t find clear information about what’s actually being done to engage youth in national politics. After hours of research, the answers were still vague or scattered. If even someone like me, dedicated to youth engagement, struggles to find this, imagine how hard it is for most young Canadians. This lack of accessibility shuts youth out before they even have a chance to participate. To fix this, we need strategies and programs that make participation straightforward, inclusive and actionable — so every young person can have a real voice in shaping the policies that affect them.
The bill affirms Canada’s commitment to children’s rights, reconciliation and a long-term strategy for youth well-being. It transforms youth voices from tokens into foundational contributors to policy.
As you evaluate this bill, I ask you to consider one thing: What will you do — personally and collectively — to create opportunities for youth in the rooms where decisions are made?
Let us ensure youth voices are not just heard but become the foundation on which we build our policies and shape the Canada we will inherit. Thank you.
The Deputy Chair: Ms. Maharaj, you have five minutes.
Josephine Maharaj, Youth Advisor, Children First Canada: Thank you, honourable senators. It is my privilege to join you virtually as a witness for the hearing today.
I am 17 years old, and I am a member of the Youth Advisory Council at Children First Canada, or CFC. Children First Canada is a national charity that aims to make Canada the best place in the world to grow up. Through research, published reports and spreading awareness of the issues that affect children today, as well as equipping youth leaders and change makers, Children First Canada has empowered many young people like myself to advocate for our rights.
However, even with this progress, I would be remiss to leave out the fact that many young people and children are slipping through the cracks. Currently, Canada sits at 67 out of 194 countries on the KidsRights Index. Whether caused by the mental health crisis, lack of access to health care, discrimination or rising poverty, children everywhere are suffering as solutions are not extensive and do not address complexities behind each issue.
These problems are only exacerbated by the fact that we are not consulted or given the platform to share our lived experiences in a productive manner. Without an intentional strategy driven by respectful collaboration between young people and policy-makers, children and youth in Canada will continue to face the brunt of these obstacles with measures to alleviate harms being remedial at best rather than preventative.
Bill S-212 will lay the foundation for intentional strategies to be developed and respectful dialogue to occur. A national strategy for youth would ensure measurable goals regarding children and young people’s well-being are set and met in a timely manner. As previously mentioned, programs and solutions revolving around young people’s well-being are often insufficient and do not address unique obstacles that young people may face depending on their backgrounds. Part of this issue lies in the fact that adequate solutions require youth from all walks of life to share their diverse perspectives in order to create a solution that addresses all sides of any given obstacle. Bill S-212 will open up avenues of dialogue for those perspectives to be shared rather than relying on a handful of youth to speak on the experiences of all 8 million children in Canada. Bill S-212 will strengthen current efforts made by organizations, such as CFC, and youth advocates to champion for children and youth rights and voices by providing the proper framework to do so, while addressing existing inequities and obstacles still present.
A National Strategy for Children and Youth in Canada is not only a good policy; it is one that embodies the values intrinsic to our society — where everyone, regardless of race, gender, creed and, in this case, age has a seat at the table.
Children make up a quarter of Canada’s population and 100% of our country’s future. We are leaders of today and tomorrow. Let Bill S-212 be the olive branch that connects policy-makers and youth. On behalf of Children First Canada and as one of the 8 million children in Canada, I urge this committee sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, to pass Bill S-212.
Thank you very much, and I look forward to your questions.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you both for those opening remarks. We will now proceed to questions from committee members. For this panel, senators will have four minutes for the question, and that includes the answer. Please indicate if your question is directed to a particular witness or all witnesses.
Senator Hay: Thank you for being here and doing the work you do, for your voices and not just participating but insisting on being at the table and being decision makers, which is critical.
I would love some advice or your thinking around the idea that if we really want to engage young people, it has to be coast to coast to coast, and that means First Nation, Métis, Inuit, Black, African, Caribbean, newcomer, refugee, urban, rural and remote populations. That is a vast demographic to engage. Often, call-outs for councils like the ones that you sit on, like Kids Help Phone, for example, may not necessarily be representative even though the intentions are good. You might get those that often raise their hand — they know how to raise their hand and are comfortable doing so — but there is a whole group of young people who might be vulnerable or intimidated. There might be unconscious bias as they approach a council. I agree with what you said: You need to meet youth where they are. My question for you, or the advice I would love you to give us, regards this: How do we get to those young people coast to coast to coast who could inform what we all need to do now and into the future but who may not be the hand-raisers in the community? I will start with whoever speaks first.
The Deputy Chair: Ms. Rao, would you like to go first?
Ms. Rao: Yes. Thank you for the question, senator.
I would like to point back to the answer that I gave: Sometimes when you need to engage youth, it is important to go meet them where they are. I find that young people are so disconnected from Canadian politics that they don’t really know where to start. There is a lot going on in the spaces that you make decisions in, and even I question how I am able to engage. Meeting youth where they are, in their schools and communities, and asking them directly, “How can I better engage with you?” and “How can we create policies that represent you?” is something that I would recommend.
We have the opportunity to help you in engaging youth and asking them questions. We can spread your message and share among our communities and so on what work you are doing and how you can get involved.
One thing that is not being done enough is this sense of collective action. I don’t want to leave all the work on your shoulders as senators, and I want to be able to help support you in addition to consult with you. That is part of that co-creation element. If you come and tell me that you are struggling with this issue, I can give you my feedback and then direct that to my community and continue to funnel that feedback toward youth.
That’s kind of how I envision co-creation of solutions and bringing together folks from under-represented backgrounds. I hope that answers your question.
Ms. Maharaj: I completely echo what Ms. Rao said. I would only add that you should be persistent. Do not get discouraged when you don’t get any responses or feedback the first few times. Again, as Ms. Rao mentioned, youth are very disconnected and disillusioned with politics, especially these days. So it’s about being intentional. Just keep sticking with it until you get the responses, because young people, once you take the time, are more than eager to participate.
Senator Hay: I’ll finish by saying that if we all follow young people, we will know exactly where we have to go. Thank you for your comments.
Senator Moodie: Thank you to the youth today who have joined us. Your voices have always been valuable to me, and I’m very pleased to have you here today to help guide us in these deliberations.
I want to ask you this question: What lessons from other countries’ national youth strategies could help Canada design an effective and rights-based framework?
I know that CARE Canada works with global youth, so maybe, Ms. Rao, you could start, and then we’ll pass it over.
Ms. Rao: Thank you so much, Senator Moodie. With our work with CARE Canada, we work with young people in Kenya, Uganda and Zambia and collaborate with them in order to bring this global context that you’re referring to.
Something I have learned is that we are not alone as a nation in our struggles in trying to increase youth engagement and build opportunities for young people, but the first important step is to even out the playing field. When we’re thinking about young people who are impacted and struggling or who are in a disadvantaged system, we’re not on an equal playing field just yet. Before we’re thinking ahead to building better futures and so on, we first need to focus on the people whom we’ve already left behind and then continue to build solutions from that point.
When thinking about other countries and their progress on youth engagement and some of the other goals that this bill is aiming to address, we also need to think about how we can engage young people globally and show some meaningful strategies that are being developed in Canada that then can be replicated in other countries. We could be an example in that sense. I hope that answers your question.
Senator Moodie: The other topic that I’d like to touch on is this: Both your organizations are doing work around rising threats to children’s well-being. Mental health is one; bullying and food insecurity are others. How could a national strategy accelerate coordinated action across sectors to respond to these risks?
Ms. Rao: A national strategy starts by framing a conversation and identifying that these are all of the issues that exist today and then help support any other policies that are implemented later on to target specific metrics in that. This bill is incredibly useful because it’s naming different struggles faced by young people. Hopefully, with that recognition, we’re able to build more meaningful solutions after the fact.
Ms. Maharaj: As I mentioned in my opening remarks, a national strategy would introduce intent into these processes. It’s very difficult, as of right now, to unite our voices, whether it be through youth organizations or youth advocates, because our efforts are very fragmented. A strategy would address all the gaps that exist while reaching out between barriers, so we could combine our efforts more efficiently. Thank you.
Senator Moodie: Thank you both.
Senator Senior: I want to continue on the intentionality piece that you mentioned, Ms. Maharaj, because I want to pick your brains a little bit more. Could you talk about what working with such intentionality could look like when we’re talking about the voices? I’ve heard young people call it “the real ones.” How do you get to the real ones, meaning those who are not the cream of the crop at the top but those who are ignored and are on the margins? How would intentionality get to those folks?
Ms. Maharaj: First, it involves the process of developing programs and thinking about what groups may be underserved already. For example, within the terms of poverty, how does poverty impact Indigenous communities? How does it impact racialized communities? How does it impact newcomer youths? The first part of that work lies in the organizations themselves coming up with questions they must answer in terms of seeking out youth engagement. Again, it lies in being persistent. You may not get the “real ones” that you want right away in your efforts to engage youth, and that’s okay. The important thing is to not get discouraged and, as Ms. Rao has said, to meet youth where they’re at and ask them specific questions about their experiences, rather than the more general ones that tend to be asked in youth engagement.
Senator Senior: Thank you.
Senator Burey: Young ladies, thank you so much. I am so filled with hope. You guys are going to do it. We just have to give you the space to do it. I think that’s what you’ve been telling us. I just feel really hopeful. I’ve always been hopeful about young people. You keep on going, and I just can’t say enough about that, so thank you so much. We will get the solutions from you when we engage you.
From your perspectives as advocates, what systemic gaps most urgently need to be addressed in this national strategy? What do you think are the big ones?
Ms. Rao: I believe that access to opportunities and having meaningful opportunities to engage are some of the biggest problems currently. We’ve all said and echoed the same thing, that young people have the drive, have the determination and have the solutions but are just lacking that platform. It looks like calling youth into these sorts of spaces and giving young people this opportunity.
I’d also recognize that I was given this opportunity because of my work with another organization. I would like to challenge all of the senators before me today to maybe find young people to call into this conversation who aren’t already part of established organizations, in order to get those folks to speak as well. I have the privilege to speak here today, and I’m so thankful for that, but engaging some of the more diverse folks who would benefit from speaking on a bill like this is something I would like to see happen.
Ms. Maharaj: Could the senator please repeat her question? My audio cut out while she was speaking.
Senator Burey: Certainly and gladly. From your perspective as advocates, what systemic gaps most urgently need to be addressed in the national strategy? What are the big gaps?
Ms. Maharaj: I think more should be done to address the impact of generative AI and the increasing online reliance we have in daily life as young people. The internet is a part of our life now. It’s no longer a place. It’s something that should be addressed. How does generative AI, when it produces, work? Because it’s known to not have any sense of critical thought, and it can be used as a tool for hatred. How does it impact equity-deserving young people? How does generative AI in classrooms affect students? How can it help students? What uses does it have? I feel that issue is urgent, because generative AI is evolving as we speak. It is something to address in this bill. Thank you.
Senator Moodie: Thank you so much.
Senator Petitclerc: Thank you both for being here today to help us. It’s great listening to you. This is part of my question: You know this piece of legislation and you’ve voiced it. It says it calls for consultation. It’s clear; we need to consult with youth.
I want to push this a little more. There is consultation, and there is the idea of co-creation. Where do you think youth should be? Should they be consulted at the beginning, and then everybody else does the work? Or do you see a place for youth to be part of the process from start to delivery?
Ms. Rao: Thank you so much for the question. I believe that youth should be involved in every part of the creation of different policies because that’s always a unique and diverse perspective. I think I speak on behalf of all youth when I say that we don’t understand any of the bureaucratic systems that you all operate under; therefore, I feel as if we have the ability to speak very freely about our opinions and give you real feedback, which can be very meaningful in these sorts of situations.
Also, I don’t believe that all of you, when you were younger, dreamed of being part of the Senate one day, and the way we can help propel young people into career paths, especially within politics, is to pave that way and give mentorship to young people. That’s another form of engagement. I know a lot senators have youth councils, and that’s wonderful. But I think building those pathways and co-creating alongside them would give younger people opportunities to maybe dream and envision that they could one day be in the Senate or work in politics and be able to continue to have the impact of co-creation with other young people.
So I hope that we can all work together collaboratively from start to finish.
Senator Petitclerc: Thank you.
Ms. Maharaj: I completely agree with Ms. Rao. Children and youth should be consulted every step of the way, because as everyone in this room knows, legislation or any sort of report changes the law in terms of drafting it. So it’s very important to keep youth involved at every step in the development process to make sure that their voices aren’t warped or drowned out.
Senator Petitclerc: Thank you.
Senator Muggli: Thank you. I too am filled with hope, and I so appreciate the energy and enthusiasm that you’re bringing to the conversation today.
My question is around rankings. I know, Ms. Maharaj, you referenced being sixty-seventh place. I didn’t quite catch the report card, but the bottom line is not so good. I was just looking at UNICEF Canada’s page and the recent report card they did, where Canada ranks 19 out of 36 countries among the world’s wealthiest nations but also ranks 33 out of 36 on adolescent suicide. These are not good rankings, clearly.
I’m wondering if you would like to talk a little bit about what you would see as the top priority to tackle with the support of this strategy. What would be the number one thing that you would hope this strategy could move into action to address? I’ll start with you first, Ms. Maharaj.
Ms. Maharaj: Unfortunately, that’s a very difficult question to answer because children and young people are at a crisis point with respect to so many different factors — again, poverty, the mental health crisis, generative AI, discrimination and so on. I feel it would be unfair to prioritize one issue over the others because they are all deserving of top priority. We are at a crisis point in multiple sectors.
Senator Muggli: Yes, absolutely. Ms. Rao?
Ms. Rao: Thank you. If I can be bold, I would like to see potentially a youth office or opportunity for more engagement and more policies being created to help with all of these different subsets of issues that young people face. Maybe a more formalized or structured program in which we can participate in order to help shed light on different issues that we’re facing, and then also build solutions for them that results in more meaningful policies, because I understand this bill can’t cover everything and it is unable to recognize everything, and so another formal opportunity like that would be great.
Senator Muggli: I appreciate that, because this bill should have an overarching statement that covers everybody. That’s the challenge. When it becomes a deliverable strategy, that’s when you have to start addressing particular issues. Thank you so much for your feedback. I appreciate it.
The Deputy Chair: Thank you to both witnesses. Senators, this brings us to the end of today’s panels. I’d like to thank all of the witnesses for their testimony today.
(The committee continued in camera.)