National Strategy for Children and Youth Bill

Moved the adoption of the report.

She said: Honourable senators, I begin by acknowledging that I’m speaking from the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe peoples.

In my capacity as Deputy Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, I am honoured to rise to speak on Bill S-212, An Act respecting a national strategy for children and youth in Canada.

As Senator Moodie is both the Chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology and the bill’s sponsor, she recused herself from her role as Chair for the duration of this study in order to preserve the neutrality of the chair.

Senator Osler, as Deputy Chair, presided over the study and, as the committee’s new Deputy Chair, I took on the role of Chair for clause-by-clause consideration of this important bill.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to the sponsor of the bill, Senator Rosemary Moodie, and her team for their dedication and hard work in bringing this important landmark legislation before the Senate of Canada, especially during these challenging times for our nation. Canadians, children and youth, parents, teachers, health care providers and first responders — we hear you, and your Parliament is acting.

The committee collaborated diligently to strengthen the bill, approaching its work with openness, humility and a deep commitment to improving outcomes for children and youth. Members listened thoughtfully to a wide range of witnesses, including children and youth, First Nations organizations, experts, academics, advocacy groups and representatives from across civil society. The whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

At the outset, I would also like to thank Senator Greenwood, Senator Hay, Senator Petitclerc and their teams for bringing forth substantive amendments that improved the bill, as well as Senator Senior for her thoughtful and substantive observation.

In the review of Bill S-212, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology held seven meetings and heard from 36 witnesses, including officials from Indigenous Services Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada and Health Canada.

Colleagues, we received 39 written briefs. We started our study on November 5, 2025, and we completed it on February 4, 2026. In all, 13 amendments were proposed, and 11 amendments were adopted, affecting seven clauses. Amendments were proposed by Senators Hay, Greenwood and Petitclerc.

We could not have achieved this without the singular focus of committee staff: law clerk Philippe Giguère; analysts Diana Ambrozas, Laura Blackmore and Mayra Perez-Leclerc; administrative assistant Osvaldo Lopes Da Silva Jr.; and our indomitable committee clerk, Ferda Simpson.

Colleagues, pursuant to rule 12-22(4):

The Senator presenting a committee report recommending amendments to a bill shall explain the purpose and effect of each amendment.

Through the collective hard work of the committee, meaningful amendments were developed and adopted to strengthen Bill S-212 to ensure it better reflects the diverse realities and needs of children and youth across Canada in order to build a prosperous, more resilient and stronger Canada — a Canada and a future fit for kids.

The amendments to the preamble set the stage for those amendments adopted in clauses 4 and 7.

Witnesses emphasized that Indigenous children experience markedly different lived realities than other children in Canada. Disparities stem from multiple socio-economic factors, including the ongoing impacts of colonization, which continue to shape their health and well-being. These amendments will ensure that the national strategy fulsomely addresses the challenges that are unique to Indigenous children, and it will ensure that free, prior and informed consent for the national strategy as it pertains to Indigenous children be enshrined in this law.

The committee also adopted important amendments that emphasized the need for Bill S-212 to explicitly recognize mental health and the rights of children and youth with disabilities as core elements of the national strategy. Witnesses highlighted that many young people — particularly First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, newcomers, those living in rural or remote regions, Black youth, racialized youth, 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, vulnerable groups and children and youth with disabilities — face systemic barriers to equitable mental health supports. Witnesses stressed that adding explicit references to mental health would ensure the strategy better reflects the holistic needs of children and youth in Canada, citing the current mental health crisis across Canada.

Colleagues, this moment causes me to reflect on the unimaginable recent tragedies in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., and the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation community, and to remember the words of Martin Luther King Jr.:

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects [us] all indirectly.

And so we, as senators and Canadians, stand with you. We mourn with you, and we pledge to do better.

Witness testimony further highlighted the importance of aligning the bill with Canada’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, especially the testimony from Inclusion Canada and the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children. They emphasized that children with disabilities must be meaningfully reflected in the framework so that no child is left behind.

An amendment on quantifiable indicators and outcome measures that are culturally relevant and meaningful to Indigenous youth and children was also adopted.

An amendment to the consultation and reporting process ensured that relevant departments, including Indigenous Services Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada, would allow a whole-of-government approach to be not only adopted but also realized.

Amendments strengthened children and youth as integral to the development of the strategy, including in setting the objectives, outlining meaningful indicators and outcomes and in the reporting of the strategy.

The committee’s report includes the observation that children are not inherently poor; rather, they experience poverty through their living conditions. It is poverty within those situations we need to address.

The committee also recommends that a Gender-based Analysis Plus of this bill be conducted to provide a full understanding of who would be impacted by this national strategy.

Colleagues, these amendments and observations together ensure that the national strategy creates a vision that is inclusive, equitable and responsive to the full diversity of children and youth across Canada.

In closing, colleagues, this bill is rooted in a child’s rights and a child’s well-being approach. I would therefore be remiss if I did not pay tribute to the work of former senator Landon Pearson, known as “the Children’s Senator,” who spearheaded the work and release of the landmark report entitled A Canada Fit for Children in 2004. The report set out a road map toward a common Canadian vision for children and a plan of action on how to create a Canada fit for children. It set out strategies, goals and actions.

However, as witnesses pointed out, we have long abandoned any cohesive strategy, with sometimes disastrous consequences for our children and youth and resulting in Canada falling further behind our OECD comparators in both spending and outcome measures.

Senators, we have a chance to take the baton from former senator Landon Pearson in the relay race that is the life of our country and ensure that all our children have the brightest future possible, with no child left behind.

It is not just a moral imperative to act; it is an economic one as well. Studies have shown that every $1 invested in early childhood development yields a return of up to $9 in future savings, primarily through reduced spending on health care, social services and criminal justice interventions.

Investing early in mental health care for children and youth can save trillions of dollars over their lifetime.

As we consider this bill, let us remember the words of Nelson Mandela, who said, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”

While children and youth are 20% of our population, they are 100% of our future. I am immensely honoured, humbled and deeply grateful that the life’s work of so many of us in this chamber, through our consideration of this historic bill, sets us on a path toward creating a Canada and a future truly fit for children.

I want to close by once again thanking all the witnesses for their compelling testimony, which moved us all to act and truly do what the Senate does best: analyze and scrutinize bills with due diligence, deliberate care and sober second thought — and ultimately work toward improving the lives of Canadians.

Thank you, meegwetch.