October 2002

The National Children’s Alliance is a network of 50 national organizations committed to improving the lives of children, youth and their families in Canada (see attached list of member organizations).

The National Children’s Alliance strongly supports the principles contained in the SUFA and will look at its implementation through the lens of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) agreement. The ECD agreement is one of the first joint policy initiatives to be implemented through federal/provincial/territorial decision-making processes of the Social Union Framework Agreement (SUFA). The principles of the SUFA have been respected in the ECD agreement; however, we have strong concerns about the mechanisms of implementation and recommend specific improvements.

Over the past three years, there have been important efforts towards achieving a social union in Canada. There is still a long way to go. Quebec’s efforts in social policy are not recognized in the current agreements. As a nation, the emphasis on sovereignty has been at the expense of collaborating on the vision and goals of our collective agreements.

Commitments to international and domestic agreements create a framework for governments in Canada to make a difference for our children and youth. It is time for governments to work collaboratively with the voluntary/NGO sector to provide a coherent approach which integrates the promises of the:

• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1991);
• Social Union Framework Agreement (1999);
• National Children’s Agenda (1999);
• Early Childhood Development Agreement (2000); and,
• United Nations "A World Fit for Children" (2002).

ON ACCESSIBILITY:

"Ensure access for all Canadians, wherever they live or move in Canada, to essential social programs and services of reasonably comparable quality". (SUFA)

"Ensure adequate, affordable, stable and sustainable funding for social programs". (SUFA)

Many of the member organizations of the National Children’s Alliance are engaged in the delivery of essential services at the community level all across Canada, from education, health care, child welfare to child care. We strongly support the principle of access to essential social programs of comparable quality delivered in a stable funding environment. However, there are jurisdictional issues which seem to mitigate against a coherent strategy for community social services. The National Children’s Alliance is increasingly concerned about the variability in the mix and quality of social services available across jurisdictions.

Since the change in federal funding mechanisms with the introduction of the Canada Health and Social Transfer, social services have been losing out in the competition with post-secondary education and health care for public funding. Social service organizations increasingly face unpredictable funding for social programs, both from governments and within the community fundraising environment. Funding for our social programs no longer rests solely within federal and provincial/territorial governments but includes local governments and communities.

The federal government invested $2.2 billion in the implementation of the ECD agreement. As we enter the second year of funding, many excellent programs have been supported across Canada to meet the needs of our youngest children and their families. The nature of the agreement provided provincial governments with a "menu" of services for enhancement. This has allowed provinces and territories to choose among the four areas in the agreement: healthy pregnancy, birth and infancy; parenting and family supports; early childhood development, learning and care; and community supports. One of the limitations of this approach is that in several provinces child care services have not been included, and in fact have experienced decline. Child care is a foundation of services for children in the 0-6 age range.

Recommendation: That federal/provincial/territorial governments review the impact of funding mechanisms, including the CHST, on the delivery of social programs in the context of their commitment to comparable social services for Canadians.

Recommendation: That the federal government use its spending power to work with provincial/territorial governments to consider replacing the "menu" approach to ECD investment to ensure that all four areas in the agreement are invested in. This would be consistent with the SUFA principle of providing access to essential services, such as child care, for all Canadian families.

ON ACCOUNTABILITY:

"Monitor and measure outcomes of its social programs and report regularly to its constituents on the performance of these programs." (SUFA)

"Use third parties, as appropriate, to assist in assessing progress on social priorities". (SUFA)

The National Children’s Alliance believes that accountability to Canadians includes the monitoring of progress on how we are doing to support the needs of our children and youth. The commitments to accountability within the ECD agreement are consistent with those in the SUFA. Accountability in the area of child outcomes needs to reflect the complexity of causality with family situation and community supports, as well as the long term nature of child outcomes.

Under the ECD agreement, governments have produced baseline reports outlining service delivery and expenditures within the areas targeted in the agreement. These reports have provided valuable information for each jurisdiction but comparability is seriously constrained by the lack of a coordinated framework for reporting. Federal investment in the ECD was intended for enhanced or expanded service delivery. However, due to the limitations in reporting it is not possible to track these new monies in the system to determine if they are not merely replacing budget cutbacks in related areas for young children.

The National Children’s Alliance has taken responsibility to make a contribution as a third party in monitoring the ECD agreement. As a result of our brief to the Standing Committee on Finance, the Committee put forward a recommendation that funding be allocated to assist in this role. At this time, the Alliance is working with the federal government to secure funding to produce "KidsWatch" which would assist the public in understanding and monitoring how we are collectively doing to care for Canada’s children in the context of all our commitments.

Recommendation: That federal/provincial/territorial governments continue to work together on the monitoring of the ECD agreement and develop a joint framework for reporting on expenditures and services.

Recommendation: That the federal government develop mechanisms with other levels of government and the voluntary/NGO sector to address gaps in data availability on child outcomes and social service delivery for children, youth and their families.

Recommendation: That the federal government support the National Children’s Alliance in its role as third party to develop sustainable mechanisms which would enable Canadians to participate in the monitoring of our collective commitments.

ON TRANSPARENCY:

"Ensure effective mechanisms for Canadians to participate in developing social priorities and reviewing outcomes". (SUFA)

The national voluntary/NGO sector has a unique and important role to play in policy development. The National Children’s Alliance is made up of 50 national organizations representing hundreds of thousands of individuals working at the community level to improve the lives of children, youth and their families. This allows us to bring the skills, knowledge and understanding of social service delivery from the grassroots perspective.

The federal/provincial/territorial processes involved in the implementation of SUFA and the ECD agreements occur at the level of Ministerial Councils. By the nature of negotiated multi-jurisdictional agreements, this work takes place behind closed doors. The National Children’s Alliance urges governments to immediately open the process to the voluntary/NGO sector in order to enhance implementation. The National Children’s Alliance provides an important vehicle for engaging communities in the dialogue of developing social priorities and reviewing outcomes.

Recommendation: That the federal/provincial/territorial Ministerial Council on Social Policy Renewal invite the National Children’s Alliance to the table for a dialogue on enhancing and monitoring the work that has begun with the implementation of the ECD agreement.

IN CONCLUSION:

"Canada’s social union should reflect and give expression to the fundamental values of Canadians – equality, respect for diversity, fairness, individual dignity and responsibility, and mutual aid and our responsibilities for one another". (SUFA)

Poll after poll has found that Canadians strongly value and support living in caring communities. The Social Union Framework Agreement continues to hold promise as a mechanism to achieve the realization of these values. The National Children’s Alliance recognizes the progress made in these first three years of the SUFA, specifically the ECD agreement. In our recommendations we have made a strong case for strengthening mechanisms within the SUFA and the ECD agreement to ensure that Canadians have access to the social programs they need.

Governments have made inroads towards "giving our children a good start" with the signing of the international and domestic agreements such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the SUFA, the National Children’s Agenda, and the ECD agreement. The more difficult part is still to come as we are a long way from a coherent social union in Canada. The National Children’s Alliance is committed to working with governments at all levels towards implementing these agreements.