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Brief to the Standing Committee on Finance National Children’s Alliance October 7, 2003
Members of the National Children’s Alliance
Rationale The National Children’s Alliance The National Children’s Alliance brings together 56 national organizations working collectively to enhance the well-being of children and youth in Canada. It is a model for collaboration among health, education, environment, literacy, recreation, disability,child care, social services and community-based organizations for reaching consensus on a broad range of policy issues. Building on the strengths of the hundreds of thousands of people working on the front lines of our communities and their combined research capacity, the National Children’s Alliance mobilizes cross-sectoral and multi-displinary approaches to impact upon policy development. Since its inception in 1996, the National Children’s
Alliance has worked to: Foundation for Federal Action: The Government of Canada has recognized the importance of both income support and services to the health and well-being of Canada’s children and their families. Significant progress has been made on the implementation of the National Children’s Agenda. This has been demonstrated through investments in the National Child Tax Benefit and parental leave as well as through transfers for service delivery in the Early Childhood Development agreement. This is a solid foundation upon which to continue to build the investments needed to realize the full potential of the National Children’s Agenda. The recommendations contained in this report are consistent
with the Government of Canada’s commitments to children, youth
and their families in: The upcoming National Action Plan to be delivered to the United Nations this year will provide another opportunity for the federal government to again renew its public commitment on children’s issues. Keeping the Promises The public in Canada will be looking to the next federal
budget for investments that improve the lives of children, youth and
their families. Investing in health and social programs remains a priority
for Canadians. Now that Canada has balanced its budgets it is critical
that debt reduction does not come at the expense of our most vulnerable
populations. In this brief the National Children’s Alliance presents
an integrated policy approach that includes income support, service
delivery and monitoring progress. There are three priority areas for
our recommendations: The National Children’s Alliance can continue to play a major role in the development and implementation of many of Canada’s commitments to children.
Sustaining Families Income security programs provide a foundation for ensuring social inclusion. Although parents have primary responsibility for their children, as a society we take responsibility for improving equality of opportunity through income redistribution. The National Children’s Alliance supports the National Child Tax Benefit as a key strategy for addressing child and family poverty. The federal government’s ongoing investments in this program have proven to be effective in reducing poverty and supporting families with the costs of raising children. It is important that all children living in poverty are treated fairly by ensuring access to this important benefit regardless of the source of family income. Increasing the federal investment in the National Child Tax Benefit will continue to pay dividends to the health and well-being of Canada’s children. Recommendation: In the federal budget of 2000 Parental Leave Benefits through Employment Insurance program were extended to one year. The National Children’s Alliance had recommended this change and is very pleased by its implementation and the recognition of the need to support parents in balancing work and family responsibilities. However, there is a need to expand eligibility given the nature of the Canadian labour market and the substantive number of workers that have part-time jobs or income generated through self-employment. The majority of these workers, particulary women, are low income earners. Fairness in expanding eligibility also needs to include ensuring equivalent benefits for adoptive families. The current program does not provide adequate income support with the current level of only 55% of income. The gap in income stream due to the waiting period is further exacerbated by delays in the processing time. This situation is a hardship for the many families that are struggling to meet their regular monthly expenses. Recommendation: Recommendation: Building Healthy Children, Families and Communities With the signing of the Early Childhood Development agreement and the consequent Multilateral Framework, the federal government with the provincial/territorial governments have demonstrated the importance of supporting children in the early years through public policy. The federal investment has been a key policy lever towards the expansion of services in the areas of: healthy pregnancy, infancy and birth; parenting and family supports; early childhood development, learning and care; and community supports. The National Children’s Alliance has played an important role in putting the issues of early childhood on the public agenda and commends the federal government for its responsiveness and leadership in this area. In Canada today, there is not an adequate system to ensure quality and access to child care for all families. It is important that governments find a way to work together to enhance quality services, subsidies and regulations to meet the gap in demand. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child responded to Canada’s report on October 3, 2003 and encouraged Canada “to devise a coordinated approach to ensure quality child care is available to all children, regardless of their economic or geographic status”. Recommendation: In 2000, there were 2.7 million children ages 6-12 in Canada, approximately 9% of the population. The disturbing trends towards obesity and diabetes among children in this age group warrants an immediate public intervention to improve community services. Increasing user fees and downloading of services to the local level is leading to a lack of access to recreational opportunities needed to ensure the optimal development of children in the middle years. The federal government has acknowledged the negative health consequences through its commitment to work with partners towards a national strategy for healthy living. Ministers of Health have agreed to provincial/territorial implementation across sectors that extends responsibility to other cross-jurisdictional tables such as the Council of Ministers of Education. As part of a strategy for healthy active living, the National
Children’s Alliance is looking for an investment in community
infrastructure for the development of inclusive community play and recreation
spaces and programs – “Public spaces – Family places”.
A community infrastructure fund would contribute to: Recommendation: A pressing issue for immediate action is housing. The cutbacks in the construction of social housing over the past decade has led to a substantive decline in affordable housing. The private sector is not in a position to fill this gap since the cost of new multi-unit housing puts rents beyond the reach of families living on low incomes. The federal government’s four-year capital grants initiative with the provinces and territories is welcome but falls short of the demand for affordable rental housing. It is estimated by the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association that over 700,000 households in Canada are in severe housing need, with more than half of their income being paid out in rent. This “housing induced poverty” is caused by the shortage of low rent accommodation. The National Children’s Alliance is concerned about the impact of homelessness, poor quality housing and lack of stability on children’s health and well-being. Adequate housing is a foundation for mitigating the negative impact of poverty on children’s development. Increasing the investment in the Affordable Rental Program and targeting low income families will make a difference for families and their children. Recommendation: In contrast to the lives experienced by other Canadian children and youth, Aboriginal children are more likely to experience poverty, health problems, maltreatment, incarceration and child welfare systems. The numbers of children in care are increasing and the problem is particularly acute for Aboriginal children. Although the latter represents less than five percent of the child population in Canada, they account for at least thirty percent of Canada’s children in care. From 1996 – 2001 it is estimated that the numbers of Aboriginal children in care increased by seventy-one percent. Recommendation: Ensuring Accountability Over the past 13 years, Canada has committed to a number of a national and international agreements that have an enormous impact on lives of children, youth and their families, from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) to the Early Childhood Development agreement (2000). However, advances have been uneven and there has been inadequate progress in closing the gaps between our commitments and the reality of children’s lives, particularly for Aboriginal, immigrant/refugee and poor children. The need for monitoring how children are living and how society is supporting them to flourish is critical in ensuring implementation of our international and domestic obligations to children. Canada has been and continues to be a leader at the United Nations and internationally on children’s issues. The United Nations has specified that States’ reporting obligations on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child include the participation of the voluntary/NGO sector. Domestically, the federal/provincial/territorial governments have moved forward on the implementation of the National Children’s Agenda with the Early Childhood Development agreement. The role of the voluntary/NGO sector as the third party in monitoring implementation is recognized in these agreements. In the report of the Standing Committee on Finance in 2001 (Securing Our Future, Nov. 2001, p. 108) the committee accepted the recommendation of the National Children’s Alliance for the provision of resources to support the work of the voluntary/NGO sector as the third party in monitoring. This has not yet been realized. Successful implementation of the programs and initiatives undertaken by the federal government under the National Children’s Agenda is dependent upon a vibrant third sector to collaborate in the planning, implementation and evaluation. This is also consistent with the commitments made in Voluntary Sector Accord. The member organizations of the National Children’s Alliance work in communities all across Canada and contribute to information sharing and dissemination on service delivery for effective policy development. In the collaboration among governments and the voluntary sector to delivery community services and supports, national research and reporting is fundamental in order to monitor what makes a difference in the outcomes of our children and youth. While government reporting on its programs and expenditures is important, accountability to the public cannot be realized without monitoring by a third party. Canada currently does not have a sustainable mechanism for monitoring its commitments. Today, the voluntary/NGO sector does not have the resources or the capacity to adequately fulfill its role as the third party in monitoring. It is crucial that as a country we are in a position to accurately report to the United Nations and to the people in Canada on we are doing as a society to support children and youth. In the report of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child dated 3 October 2003, it “urges the Government to designate a systematic monitoring mechanism for the implementation of the National Plan of Action”. The progress made by the federal government in areas such as the Early Childhood Development Initiative, with $2.2 billion in investment, needs to be tracked and reported on. The Romanow Commission recommended improved monitoring and accountability mechanisms to track expenditures on health care. In 2004 when the new Canada Social Transfer is implemented, it will provide an opportunity to build in adequate mechanisms for tracking expenditures on social service delivery. The process of developing “a set of shared principles and objectives for social programs that could underlie the Canada Social Transfer”, as specified in the legislation to split the CHST, needs to involve the voluntary/NGO sector. As Canada develops its National Plan of Action under the World Fit for Children, monitoring progress with measurable benchmarks and outcomes will help Canada achieve our long term goals. Recommendation
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