Symposium Proceedings

Over sixty representatives of the National Children’s Alliance and provincial and territorial affiliates gathered in Ottawa on March 29th and 30th. Over the two-day period participants discussed advocacy and mobilization priorities for the coming year.

Participants considered the Alliance mission, policy positions and achievements to date, aided by the Symposium paper, Telling the Story: National Children’s Alliance by Louise Hanvey. Alliance participants also heard about issues in the areas of Aboriginal children; work and families; children in care; and the education system. These issues were considered within the current context: the Federal Budget, Health Canada’s Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy, the Canadian Learning Institute, the Canada Health and Social Transfer and upcoming federal, provincial and territorial elections.

Through the two days of discussions the following themes emerged as areas of convergence for future action:

Federal - Regional Coordination: There is a need to improve federal/provincial/territorial and local coordination. By transferring knowledge and expertise of the National Children’s Alliance to the regional levels provincial and territorial groups will be better able to can start forming similar coalitions, and federal successes can be realized regionally.

Aboriginal Children: The Alliance should begin a dialogue on Aboriginal children, youth and families, to support Aboriginal peoples, without taking on the Aboriginal agenda.

Supporting parents/economic security: We should support parents in their capacity to care for their children, including advocating for economic security for families. In particular, continue work on the National Child Benefit, advocate for better social housing, and focus on labour market issues, such as the family/life balance.

Monitoring/Accountability: Continue and expand work on monitoring. Because of F/P/T jurisdictional issues, there are discrepancies between programs and standards from region to region. National standards are needed to ensure uniform access to comparable services for all children and families in Canada. Develop national standards for care of children in school, in and day care, as well as in the home, and convey this actively across Canada. Particularly develop standards in relation to: regulated childcare and early childhood education; children in care/permanency; and Aboriginal children.

Inclusion: It is important that the Alliance advocate on behalf of all children and youth. There is a need to focus on vulnerable groups including Aboriginal children, children with disabilities, immigrant and refugee children, children belonging to religious, linguistic and ethnic minority groups, and children of same sex and bi-sexual orientation.

National Plan of Action: The Alliance needs to respond to the consultation process on the National Plan of Action for Children.

The priorities identified will be considered by the Alliance Steering Committee at an upcoming retreat, and subsequently by the NCA membership.

Day One, Saturday March 29th, 2003

INTRODUCTION

The National Children’s Alliance invited representatives from its 53 national member organizations, as well as provincial and territorial affiliates, to attend a National Symposium in Ottawa on March 29 and 30, 2003. This annual event is held with the goal of setting policy priorities and developing mobilization strategies for the upcoming year.

More than sixty participants, including thirteen from provincial and territorial affiliate groups attended the Symposium. Over a two-day period, participants were led through a multi-step process by facilitator Pierre LaCroix. The Symposium included a series of presentations, and small and plenary group discussions and activities in order to identify:
· Three to four immediate policy priority areas
· Mobilization strategies for the priorities over the coming year
· The focus of the fall roundtable.

OPENING REMARKS

Michelle Brownrigg, Foundation for Active Healthy Kids and a member of the working group that organized the Symposium, welcomed participants. Michelle highlighted some of the goals and activities of the next two days. Using excerpts from Dr. Seuss’s books, Michelle drew analogies between the Seuss stories and the work of the Alliance, the message being: highly complex and intricate tasks are achieved through cooperation and a singular focus on a goal.

Michelle acknowledged other working group members:

Janet Davies, Canadian Nurses Association
Sandra Griffin, Canadian Child Care Federation
Alla Ivask, Canadian Association of Family Resource Programs
Pam Joliffe, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada
Perpetua Quigley, Canadian Public Health Association
Stephanie Pearce, National Children’s Alliance secretariat
Gabriele Hucker, NVO staff
Sylvia Fanjoy, National Children’s Alliance secretariat

Sylvia Fanjoy introduced Pierre Lacroix who would act as Symposium facilitator over the following two days.

First Impressions and Comments of New Members

Pierre facilitated a discussion to bring out the first impressions of members who were new to the Alliance.

Comments:
· There is excitement about bringing together people from a diverse range of organizations whose single focus is children and families.
· Through collaboration, the Alliance is capable of national advocacy that no one organization can do by itself.
· The National Children’s Alliance provides an opportunity to share research and best practices across the country.
· The Alliance structure allows for great flexibility to respond to social policy issues, and includes complex viewpoints in a consensus to achieve common goals.

AGENDA Item: Who We Are: Reconnecting and Reaffirming

Presenters: Betty Bergin and Anne Joyce

As part of a capacity building project undertaken by the Canadian Executive Services Overseas and the Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations, volunteer advisors Betty Bergin and Anne Joyce undertook a project with the National Children’ Alliance. The goals of this project were to articulate the National Children’s Alliance’s rules of association, and to capture its organizational history and the subtleties of what it is and what it does. The volunteer advisors conducted key informant interviews with ten NCA members.

The survey examined:
· members’ perceptions of Alliance’s purpose
· the Alliance’s value to members
· how the Alliance operates, and why it works well
· recommendations for improvements to the Alliance’s modus operandi

The survey respondents had been selected using the following criteria:
· combination of small, medium and large organizations
· organizations based both in and outside of Ottawa
· organizations associated with NCA for varying lengths of time

Betty and Anne highlighted the process that they undertook in carrying out this project. Participants were then invited to make comments or ask questions based on the CESO report of how the Alliance works.

Questions and Comments

Q: Within the Alliance structure, what is role of the host organization?
A: The Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations (NVO) has fiduciary responsibility and serves as the Secretariat.

Q: What is the stability of government support?
A: Health Canada and Human Resources Development Canada have provided funding for the Alliance in the past. A detailed proposal has been submitted to HRDC for 2 1/2 years of funding, and confirmation of this funding is expected shortly. The Alliance is currently pursuing funding from Health Canada.

Q: What is the criteria for membership in NCA?
A: Members must be national, not-for-profit organizations that believe in, and work to further, the health and well-being of children. NCA members are not required to be members of NVO.

Q: All documents for this Symposium are in English only. What is the Alliance’s experience with regard to French translation/adaptation?
A: While the objective is for the NCA to be bilingual, French translation is a budgetary issue, and most documents are prepared in English. NCA will continue to increase the documents and services it provides in both languages.

Q: Have organizations left the Alliance and, if so, was an exit survey conducted to see why they left?
A: No participants could recall an organization that has left the Alliance.

Q: Diversification of Alliance funding is a goal. Could foundations, and private sector corporations with their own foundations (such as Canadian Tire), be approached about sponsorship?
A: This is a discussion that members must undertake if they wish to diversify funding. A policy would have to be developed and approved by the membership before private sector foundations could be approached for funding.

Comments:

· On page six of the CESO report, it says that the Alliance “doesn’t criticize”; however, a major function of the Alliance is to bring a critical perspective to social policy development. It is acknowledged that in working with others to advance the National Children’s Agenda, we are positive and ‘pro-actively’ critical. However, the wording might construe that critiquing public policy is not a function of NCA. It was recommended that the wording be reshaped to reflect this. (There was general support for this recommendation.)

· Monthly Alliance meetings held in Ottawa give local members an opportunity for discussion and furthering Alliance work. For those outside of Ottawa, who may attend Alliance meetings only twice a year, this is more difficult. The Alliance secretariat should consider options such as advanced teleconferencing equipment, to allow flexibility for participation in meetings.

· The Department of Intergovernmental Affairs provides financial support to organizations for translation. The Alliance should consider approaching department officials and seek funding for translation and adaptation of materials into French.

AGENDA ITEM: What We’ve Done: Taking Stock

Presenter: Louise Hanvey has been working on children’s issues for over 20 years. She authored the NCA background paper on children with disabilities, she was the project director for the past four editions of the Canadian Council on Social Development's Progress of Canada's Children, she was principle author of the Health of Canada's Children: A CICH Profile, Editions 1 and 2, and principle editor of Health Canada's Family-Centred Maternity and Newborn Care: National Guidelines.

Louise was commissioned by the Alliance to research and synthesize NCA policy positions since the Alliance’s beginning in 1996. (Telling the Story: National Children’s Alliance, www.nationalchildrensalliance.com.) Highlights of her presentation follow.

Sustaining Families

The National Children’s Alliance believes that income security programs provide a foundation for ensuring social inclusion. Parents have primary responsibility for their children; however, it is also critical that society take responsibility for improving equality of opportunity through income distribution. The Alliance has developed policy positions on:
· The National Child Benefit
· Family policy
· Support for children with special needs

Building Healthy Children, Families and Communities

Income security measures alone cannot promote optimal outcomes for children. The National Children’s Alliance asserts that families need access to a comprehensive range of services and community supports to ensure the healthy development of children and youth, including those who may be at risk of not reaching their potential. Healthy communities build healthy children and healthy families. The Alliance has developed policy positions on:

· The National Children’s Agenda
· Expanding the Children’s Agenda: children aged six to twelve
· Expanding the Children’s Agenda: community supports and services
· Early Childhood Development Initiative
· Housing
· Recreation
· Health Care and Services

Accountability to Canadians and the World

The Alliance has stressed that successful implementation of the National Children’s Agenda – and other commitments of the Canadian government such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – is dependent upon a vibrant third sector to collaborate in the planning, implementation and evaluation phases. The voluntary / NGO sector’s role in national information sharing is crucial for dissemination of best practices in program delivery and evaluation. The Alliance has developed policy positions on:

· Third Party Monitoring
· Engaging the Voluntary / NGO Sector
· Community Consultations
· Indicators Development

Louise noted that the NCA has been noticed by politicians and decision-makers for its persistent and focused work.

Questions

Q: Will the Alliance’s work on monitoring support efforts in the provinces and territories?
A: Work will be done to develop a monitoring framework and identify indicators. The Alliance has not yet received funding to carry out monitoring, although a position paper on third party monitoring is available on the Alliance website.

Comment

· Expanding the Children’s Agenda to include ages 6-12 is an area needing much work. The Alliance could take examples from the Integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living strategy proposed by Health Canada and use these examples in our work on this age group, to encourage Ministers to talk about the determinants of health.

AGENDA ITEM: Identifying the Work that Needs to Continue

This working session was done in small group and plenary. Its purpose was to identify each member’s top policy issue for Alliance focus in the coming year. In a series of priority-setting exercises, participants articulated their Top Priority, and agreed that the list of priorities could be grouped under the following policy area headings:

- Inclusion (Exclusion)
- Prevention (Intervention)
- Sustaining Economic Security
- Child Care
- National Children’s Alliance Functions
- Standards and Accountability

Inclusion (Exclusion)
· There is a need to position the Alliance on diversity. Are children/youth of immigrant families falling through the cracks? Are their needs different?
· Redress exclusion of racialized communities.
· Advocacy on Aboriginal children and youth issues.
· Support services/respite for families with children with disabilities or special needs, and single parent families.
· Diversity.
· Inclusion of Canada’s abandoned children. Reconciliation of child welfare community.
· Pan Canadian strategy on inclusion.
· Social inclusion: building a healthy living strategy for children and families that embraces all aspects of life.
· Uniform, free, equal access to public education, recreation and health services for all children (including maintaining “low” tuition at university).

Prevention (Intervention)
· Safety as a right, including violence prevention, injury prevention, environmental safety, income safety. These elements are integral to healthy living and a national plan of action.
· Support programs, therapy, and respite for children who witness and experience family violence.
· Environmental health and its impact on children.
· Advocating on behalf of Inuit children and families in health, education, housing, poverty.
· Extend efforts to children ages 6 to 11 (Integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living strategy).

Sustaining Economic Security
· Social housing crisis.
· Labour market issues, including jurisdiction, social support, and structure.
· Structural economic issues including wealth and income distribution, taxation policies, investment and employment policies, etc.
· End the claw-back.
· Income security for low-income families.
· Health of working families with children and youth.
· Youth engagement in policy development for education.
· Support to parents to be able to support their children within the family.
· Maintaining the momentum on the early childhood development initiative including accountability of expenditures, advocating for child care and “putting the child back into the family”.
· Recreation and physical activity.
· Development of an environment that will enable children to grow and learn, at school, at home and in the community.

Child Care
· Affordable, quality childcare must be available.
· Child and youth development.
· Commitment to a universally accessible child care program by the federal government.
· Regulated national “high quality” child care, including stable funding. “High quality” must be defined.
· Children ages 6 to 12.
· Education system and learning to support families.
· Advocacy, partnership-building to ensure national healthy living strategy has explicit, distinct relevance to children and youth.
· Fostering healthy school communities: a community drive, community capacity-building approach; focus on developing healthy communities for children by using school as hub, as most children are within the school system.
· Programs to support the victims of native residential schools and their families.
· Supporting diverse needs with family-learning initiatives.
· Enrich multiple dimensions of the education system environment.
· Child welfare should be a priority area.
· Increase contraceptive awareness for youth, and provide access to free contraceptives.

National Children’s Alliance
· Regional rollout of national successes.
· Strengthen networking so that we are working towards the same vision.
· Integrate a process of “courageous conversations” into Alliance ways of knowing, learning and doing.
· Look at expanding the policy reach of the coalition to support local and provincial jurisdictions. Most policy decisions that affect direct services to children are in these areas.
· Continue Early Childhood Development Initiative: expand National Children’s Agenda to include all children ages 0 to 18 years.
· Encourage capacity building of families in the community.
· Focus on Alliance membership/structure, especially regarding access/inclusion/diversity (i.e. translation/French language services, proactive recruitment of members).
· Expand focus to address youth policy/issues (over 6 years of age)
· Central access to professional services for smaller NGOs, e.g. communication specialist, media strategies, etc.

Standards and accountability
· National standards for children in care.
· Advocacy for accountability in programs/services for children and families.
· Development of meaningful outcome measures for child/family services.
· Proceed with the indicators project.
· As a condition of federal funding, remove clawback of National Child Benefit.
· Canadian children in care and need for permanency: 70,000 in care, 20,000 waiting for permanent homes.
· Building/enhancing network of community and government agencies.
· Accountability by federal, provincial and territorial governments as to the implementation of commitments to children.
· A national vision for our children.
· Develop and publicize national standards for care of our children in education, day care, health care, in homes and in families, and convey this actively across Canada.
· National standards for children in care.
· United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
· Community capacity building – infrastructures.

Comments
· In the child care area, there must be a distinction between children and youth. We must endeavour to include youth in policies. As a practice, we should use the words “children and youth” and not just “children”.
· Child care should not be compressed into “development.” Child care requires its own policy development.
· Of the listed top priorities: some are very broad, others are very narrow, and some are ends while others are means to an end.
· Focus on mobilization and integration.
· Human resources is an issue that relates to all top priorities.

AGENDA ITEM: Raising Awareness

The Children’s Alliance recently commissioned background papers to identify issues in four areas that the Alliance has not yet collectively addressed. Key findings from those papers were briefly presented. They are all available on the Alliance website.

ABORIGINAL CHILDREN - Cindy Blackstock

Cindy Blackstock, a member of the Gitanmaax First Nation, is executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and has over 18 years of experience in social services in both provincial and First Nations child welfare services.

Highlights of presentation:
· Aboriginal colonial history (disease, Indian Act, residential schools) leading to…
· …inequalities and exclusion in the social, health and education systems
· jurisdictional concerns about services to children, youth and their families
· socio-economic risks to Aboriginal children and youth arising from colonial practices
· the desires and rights of Aboriginal parents to care for their own children again
· the need for a focused and sustained commitment to restore peace and harmony for Aboriginal children and youth

Selected statistics from presentation
· Today over 22,500 Aboriginal children are spending the night in foster homes – three times the number that were in residential schools on any one day
· There has been a 71.5% increase in the number of Status Indian children being placed in foster care between 1995-2001

Recommendations of the NCA policy paper on Aboriginal children touch on the following issues
· Numerous recommendations on Aboriginal children and youth that are contained in recent declarations, conventions, reports, etc., remain unimplemented.
· In the education system:
o Aboriginal children lack meaningful opportunities for success
o There is a need for inclusion of Aboriginal history, culture and language in curricula.
· Adequately resourced and culturally based community development approaches are needed.
· Adequate access to information is needed.
· Many services fail to recognize the inequalities and unique cultural contexts of Aboriginal children, therefore perpetuating inequality.
· The National Children’s Alliance is well positioned to offer the required advocacy for Aboriginal children and youth.

WORK AND FAMILIES - Perpetua Quigley

Perpetua Quigley, who is with the Canadian Public Health Association and a member of the working group that organized the Symposium, presented highlights of this policy paper, by Carol Matusicky, executive director of the BC Council for Families.

Highlights of the Presentation:

Issues facing families in the workplace can be grouped into two categories:

1. Problems and challenges for employees include heavy workload; non-supportive management; the perception that an employee has to choose between career advancement and balance; lack of supportive policies; constancy of change; increases in temporary/part time work; and changes in organizational culture.

2. Issues facing employers include increasing awareness that their employees are facing increasing levels of stress, and uncertainty or lack of knowledge of the best policies to implement to deal with this stress. There are indications that employers are increasingly aware of work-life issues.

· Costs to employers of unsupportive work policies include increased abseentism and reduced work performance, poor morale and work attitude; higher turnover rates and difficulty in attracting women to senior positions; and increase in stress-related disorders.

Conclusions, identification of gaps and next steps:
· Gaps in research on this topic include: focus on low income and ethnically diverse populations; work-life issues for those who work in the voluntary sector or who are self-employed; and childcare and eldercare challenges.
· Next steps include:
o For employers: Increase the number of supportive managers; provide flexibility around work; focus on creating a more supportive workplace.
o For governments: become a “best practices” employer; implement, in conjunction with the provinces/territories, a national childcare program and a national eldercare program.

CHILDREN IN CARE - Peter Dudding, Marietta Zandstra and Cheryl Farris-Manning

Peter Dudding is the executive director of the Child Welfare League of Canada.
Marietta Zandstra has worked as a social worker for10 year. She has also served as a reviewer for the Manitoba Social Work Licensing Act and has worked on policies for the Placement Office of the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa.Cheryl Farris-Manning has been a music therapist, a home childcare provider, and an editor with Agriculture Canada and the Canadian Mennonite.

Presentation Overview:

Approximately 76,000 children are in care in Canada. While these numbers have been increasing, resources are not keeping pace. Challenges are created by the inter-jurisdictional nature of this issue, with provinces and territories having responsibility for children in care in their respective regions. Research demonstrates that family-based care is the preferred care option, and that children’s needs are changing, as more children are identified as special needs. To date, there is no research that accurately compares provincial and territorial data on children in care.

Key issues for children in care
· Shortage of placement resources
· Lack of national standards
· Increased workload for child protection workers
· Child welfare legislation – themes and issues
· Impact of funding frameworks
· Current challenges in foster care
· Broadening permanency options
· Geographic jurisdictions
· Delegation of children’s services to First Nations agencies
· Services to older youth
· Transition to adulthood services
· “Special needs” children in identifiable populations
· Outcome measures for children in care:
· Only 50% of agencies have systematic processes for integrating results of their own outcomes evaluation
· Only 30% have processes for integrating results of recent research into practice (Stevenson & Balla, 2003)

Recommendations
· Increase availability of adoption subsidies
· Review and define practices to avoid impractical court-ordered contact arrangements
· Encourage agency-mediated contact during temporary care or after adoption (facilitates open adoption)
· Establish dual-licensure, also known as “fostering with a view” or concurrent planning
· Develop and extend post-adoption services
· Create a guardianship option on the continuum of care outcomes

Research Recommendations
· Identify best terms for legislation, grounded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child
· Evaluate and identify best practices in family-based care
· Evaluate and identify best practices in serving needs of Aboriginal children and families
· Establish national standards

EDUCATION SYSTEM - Harvey Weiner

Harvey Weiner is the deputy secretary general of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, and an advisory committee member to the paper’s author, David J. Flower. Harvey. Weiner presented highlights of the policy paper.

Overview: The restructuring of public education in Canada has resulted in changes to the system, some of which may have saved government money. This paper outlines some of the problems that have resulted from that restructuring.

Main Areas of Enquiry
· Education funding: Many provincial governments have cut back on education funding. Some results of these reductions are: a reduced number of school boards; reduced administrative funding; creation of parent councils and centralizing provincial funding; reliance on fundraising creating inequities between schools based on their capacity and potential for fundraising; and increase in public-private funding partnerships.
· Special needs: A major concern is the inadequate funding for students with special needs. Children with special needs have been integrated into regular classrooms; however, inadequate supports have been provided to teachers to accommodate these students.
· English/French as a second language: the government takes no responsibility for immigrant children and education; this is particularly evident when budgets are tight.
· First Nations students: Many First Nations students attend public schools in their communities and these children are not well served by the education system.
· Class size: Increased class size is one of the greatest concerns of teachers and parents. Large class size results in teachers being unable to provide the appropriate time, care and attention to each child.
· Accountability: Accountability in the education system focuses on standardized test scores and government generated performance measures. Accountability should be used to make judgments on quality and on what is needed to improve and extend children’s learning.
· Technology: Technology is seen as a panacea to problems in the school system. Computers must be seen as a tool rather than as a substitute teacher.
· Curriculum and professional development: A program of professional development is needed to help teachers keep pace with changes in technology, curriculum, teaching techniques and the ever-changing demands of society.
· The changing role of the teacher: Because of budgetary and societal changes, expectations of teachers have increased to include roles of parents, psychologists, counselors and nurses.

Harvey noted that the Canadian Teachers Federation is setting up a task force to examine issues around children and immigration, hoping to engage provincial/territorial immigration ministries in some of the issues. He noted also the coming release (the end of April 2003) of a paper, Privatization by Stealth, which looks at issues around school funding and involvement of the private sector.

Questions

Q: What is the process by which consensus was reached on the four policy areas presented this weekend?
A: Thirteen potential policy areas were identified and sent out by e-mail to the Alliance membership who ranked them in order of preference. A subsequent members’ meeting developed the short list that was again sent to the full membership for feedback.

Day Two, Sunday, March 30th, 2003

AGENDA ITEM: Recap From Symposium Day One

Pierre Lacroix facilitated a ‘feedback-on-day-one’ discussion.

Comments
· Hopefully, a priority coming out of the weekend will be to transfer the information and expertise of the NCA to the regional levels, to enable provincial and territorial groups to start forming similar coalitions. What can the NCA do to communicate information to people who are in survival mode in the community?
· Addressing the needs of Aboriginal communities should be a priority.
· Challenge to focus in our priorities when we begin with a large wish list.
· With a massive list, we should remind ourselves on the history of the NCA. The Symposium’s intention was not to crank out the work plan for the next two years, rather to identify 35 priorities. In this morning’s exercise, members should take a temperature on the range of issues being discussed, bring back recommendations to the NCA, and pursue activities with the provinces/territories….roll it out.
· Two areas of potential are the National Child Benefit and the Early Years. Other issues are elasticity of development, disabilities, resource requirements, and supports around parent education.
· In dealing with outcomes, focus on high need, high risk. What are we doing to prepare people, from prenatal to age 18?

AGENDA ITEM: How Do We Get There?

The task was outlined as follows:

Given
· the NCA mission
· the three core areas in Louise Hanvey’s paper (sustaining families; building healthy children, families and communities; and accountability to Canadians and the world)
· the list of policy areas and actions generated yesterday, and the four policy paper presentations
· how the Alliance works
· what’s happening ‘out there’, i.e. the context

Generate
Three to four Alliance priorities, and mobilization strategies for each, while keeping in mind a focus for the fall Roundtable.

Reporting from Tables

Report backs were heard from every table. The comments heard during the report backs have been grouped by common theme. All comments and recommendations have been included.
Several participants mentioned the importance of using a social inclusion lens in all Alliance work.

Suggested Fall Roundtable Themes
· Income supports: Needs and Models
· Enabling and encouraging parents and families: Needs and Models
· Aboriginal, Inuit, Metis children (include HRDC)
· Diversity and culture

Research Areas
· Comparing existing tax benefits to a guaranteed annual income.
· Increasing the housing supply, including using a different model for social housing.
· Status of supports for families and parents in Canada.
· The status of Aboriginal children (using existing research).
· Children ages 6 to 12 (both research and statistics needed).
· Evidence-based research on Aboriginal Children.
· Research on social inclusion.
· Conduct a literature review and data synthesis regarding the implications on kids, family and communities of loss of recreation and physical activity.
· Research the impact of work/family conflict on children.
· Knowledge transfer:
o Beef up discussion papers
o Integrate knowledge

Policy Advocacy Priorities:

ABORIGINAL CHILDREN
· Status of Aboriginal children.
· Aboriginal children and their families.
· Use a lens of social inclusion when considering Aboriginal children.
o Concentrate on a new recreation infrastructure.
o Develop more community playgrounds.
· Aboriginal issues.
· Begin a dialogue on Aboriginal children, youth and families as suggested by Cindy Blackstock in her paper and presentation.
· A holistic approach is needed to empower Aboriginal organizations to take leadership, with the Alliance playing a supportive role. Look at NCA membership list, and facilitate building alliances.

EDUCATION SYSTEM
· Create links between literacy, culture and education.
· Look at the Saskatchewan education initiative as a model for future projects.
· Strengthen education system:
o Prenatal to adult
o Quality supports to kids, families

ECONOMIC REFORM
· Non-punitive transition from welfare to labour market.
· National Child Benefit:
o Increased and expanded National Child Benefit (2 comments)
o Provide economic supports – implement a strong system focusing on the National Children’s Benefit and a living wage.
· Increased federal funding for social housing.
· Income support.
· Tax policy.
· Concentrate on meeting basic needs, including:
o poverty
o housing (through adequate social housing)
o municipal delivery of services
o food banks
· Income supports (tax benefits, credits).
· Advocate for improved infrastructure: including affordable housing, and public transit.
· Monitoring / accountability of Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST): tracking the national child benefit when a child goes into care; direct the benefit to create an endowment for the child.
· Focus on parental and family leaves under Employment Insurance.
· Housing.
· The disability tax credit should be broadened, to make benefits more accessible and comprehensible.
· Focus on models of integrated service delivery and funding. There is a problem of how silos can and will be broken down at the local level. With integrated service delivery there will be increased competition for jobs. This potential job scarcity maintains the current silo-based system.

MONITORING/ACCOUNTABILITY
· There is a need for inclusive national standards for programs and services for children. These standards would include:
o Regulated child care and ECE
o Children in care/permanency
o Framework for social transfers
· Develop and implement national standards:
o children in care/permanency
o child care
o research
o equal education opportunities
o social standards re: transfers
· Monitoring accountability / standards regarding child care – quality of life indicators.
· Follow up monitoring of policy deliverables and outcomes, keeping in mind that “outcome measures are more than just how many times kids are bounced around in care.”
· Define processes of accountability.
· Monitor the creation of a social transfer.
· Define indicators related to children’s quality of life (including environmental).
· Canadian Policy Research Network has developed quality of life indicators. These should be used as tools for policy development, and should set the context for policy advocacy.

INCLUSION/EXCLUSION
· Through an Inclusion Lens:
o French/English
o Ethnic
o Religion/culture
o Aboriginal
o Special needs
· The National Longitudinal Survey on Children and Youth needs to include Children in care and Aboriginal Children.
· Valued recognition of diversity and historical exclusion in the provision of services (French, aboriginal, refugee, racialized groups, with disabilities, sexual orientation).
· Include marginalized groups in our discussions and deliberations.
· Increase supports for vulnerable groups.
· Families of children with disabilities should be supported. There is currently a gap in the policy framework for these children.

PREVENTION/SAFETY
· Eliminate ‘bandaid’ solutions.
· Key indicators must be developed of the national injury prevention and safety position.

SUPPORTING FAMILIES
· Enabling and encouraging parenting.
· Address labour market issues including parental leave.
· Increase support to parents of children with special needs.
· Enabling and encouraging parents in their role:
o Helping to improve parents’ confidence and abilities.
o Improve community supports available for parents, including
§ recreation
§ respite
§ counselling
§ drop-in centres
§ public health
§ resources
· Eliminate or reduce federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictional barriers to provide successful supports for children and parents.
· Rebuild the concept of “neighbourhood.”
· The creation and maintenance of healthy workplaces for families and children.

CHILDREN AGES 6 TO 12
· In particular reference to children ages 6 to 12, there should be a focus on:
o Family time (parents need permission to see this age group during school hours)
o Obesity and other health issues
o Physical activity and healthy living
o Children with special needs
o Pre and after school care
o Ignored, “maintained”, isolation
· Focus on initiatives for children on ages 6 to 12.
· We held a Roundtable and developed papers on children ages 6 to 12. We need to now identify next steps and strategies to improve the well-being of this age group.

CHILD CARE
· Continue to pressure provincial and territorial governments to implement regulated childcare.
· Establish a federal/provincial/territorial child care framework.
· Sustained effort around having a national, regulated child care program.

OTHER
· Focus on how to build community capacity, and mechanisms for this.
· We have prioritized children ages 6 to 12 in our new work, but we need to expand our definition of child, and focus on all children ages 0-18 years of age (and older).

Areas for future action by the Alliance
· The National Children’s Alliance needs to influence the development of the National Plan of Action.
· Develop an Alliance quarterly newsletter re-broadcasting papers, symposia, workshops, research findings of NCA members.
· Broaden the National Children’s Alliance membership to include a youth lens, encompass greater diversity, and engage consumer-based organizations.
· Provincial and territorial elections: Disseminate Alliance policy papers to provincial and territorial contacts.
· Federal/provincial/Territorial and local coordination and cooperation should be facilitated and increased.
· The Alliance can act as a conduit for best practices.

Opportunities
· Canadian Learning Institute: provides a source of information on jurisdictional issues.
· Federal/Provincial/Territorial April Workshop on Healthy Living: Although the focus of the new healthy living strategy is narrow, the workshop provides an opportunity for influence and discussion.
· Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST)

Feedback from the Plenary

· Continue the work already started on advocacy issues; community dialogue, breaking down barriers, accountability, income support, expanded age group
· Build on the indicators framework laid out in the funding proposal to do “Kids Watch.” The Third Party Monitoring Paper is on the Alliance Website, and lays out the process for developing the indicators framework. The Alliance is not currently funded for this, but Health Canada will be approached about funding the project.
· The francophone community has their own children’s alliance and there is convergence on issues. The National Children’s Alliance should provide information on their web site and demonstrate connections to the francophone alliance.
· Where is the convergence on Aboriginal issues? It was suggested that the Alliance should not take on the Aboriginal agenda, but rather support the work of Aboriginal peoples, and invite representation of Aboriginal groups within the Alliance.
· On the subject of community capacity building, the school is a key player, being a public institution that is shared throughout the community and attended by children and youth ages 5 to 18. The work in Saskatchewan on “schools as a central hub” could be used as an example by the Alliance to develop future strategies.

AGENDA ITEM: Influencing the National Plan of Action

Presenter: Meg Hirst, UNICEF Canada. Meg is a member of the Intergovernmental Steering Committee on the National Plan of Action.

The National Plan of Action—actions that will be taken on behalf of children in Canada or abroad by 2015-- is the Government of Canada’s response to the UN document “A World Fit for Children.” Meg provided an overview of the National Plan of Action and how the Alliance can respond to the Government of Canada’s development process.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified United Nations human rights Convention in existence with only two countries in the world yet to ratify (Somalia and the United States of America). The Convention legally guarantees all children:
· The right to survival.
· The right to develop to the fullest.
· The right to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation.
· The right to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.

The four foundation principles of the Convention include:
· Article 2: Non-Discrimination
· Article 3: Best Interests of the Child
· Article 6: The Right to Life, Survival and Development
· Article 12: The Right to Participation

Following the United Nations Special Session on Children in 2002, a World Fit For Children (WFFC) was produced. The WFFC agenda focused on four key priorities:
· Promoting healthy lives
· Providing quality education
· Protecting against abuse, exploitation and violence
· Combating HIV/AIDS

The Plan of Action recognizes that a world fit for children is one where:
· all children have the best possible start in life;
· all children have access to quality basic education;
· all children have ample opportunity to develop their individual capacities; and
· the physical, psychological, spiritual, social, emotional, cognitive and cultural development of children is a matter of national and global priority.

Canada’s National Plan of Action Timeline

Date	Action
Late 2002/Early 2003	Responses to Sen. Pearson
Spring 2003	Partnered events and four roundtables.
Late Spring/ Early Summer 2003	First Draft of NPA
December 2003	Finalized NPA Submitted to UN
2005	First Report
2010	Second Report
2015	Third Report

Participation in influencing the National Plan of Action

“Meeting our goals and aspirations for children merits new partnerships with civil society, including with non-governmental organizations...” (WFFC Article 56)

The National Children’s Alliance is in a particularly strong position to respond to the National Plan of Action, for a number of reasons:
o the Alliance membership involves a broad representation of children’s issues.
o the Alliance involves groups that are “on the ground” working directly with children and their families.
o the Alliance has experience working in partnerships.
o the Alliance represents groups and members from all across Canada.

Civil society organizations can choose to respond to the National Plan of Action in a number of ways. Short term responses include:
o preparing and submitting a response paper to Senator Pearson;
o performing a self-evaluation to ensure that individual member organizations are meeting the requirements of a World Fit For Children;
o educating groups and constituents on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the National Plan of Action;
o and ensuring that youth are participating in the consultation process.

Medium and long-term responses include:
o providing education on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the National Plan of Action;
o ensuring youth participation in the consultation process;
o and monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the National Plan of Action.

It is suggested that response papers should:
1) List priorities for action on behalf of children either in Canada and/or abroad.
2) Indicate strategies for getting there, including time bound and measurable goals.
3) Identify emerging issues of concern.

Questions:

Q: Who has led the process?
A: Human Resources Development Canada and Health Canada have led the consultation process. Senator Landon Pearson has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s personal representative in this process.

Q: What was the criteria for selecting who will be invited to the roundtables?
A: It is unknown what criteria was used to select groups that have been invited to the Roundtable. The Alliance can enquire into this, and also obtain a list of participants.

Comments:
· In February this year, NCA sent a letter to the Prime Minister raising the issues of 1) scope and inclusiveness of the consultations, and 2) timing. To date, there has been no response.
· Within the four priority areas, poverty is not as well addressed as other issues. Canada does not have a specific policy on poverty.
· Using the outcomes of this NCA Symposium, the Alliance should develop a response paper. This paper will articulate the top three priorities, and talk about resources, indicators and measures, and evaluation.
· It was suggested that the Alliance should have each organizations’ individual response to Senator Pearson. There was consensus that organizations should send copies of their submissions to the Alliance secretariat.
· The Alliance Paper on a Rights Based Approach: Setting the Context for Discussion and Action and strategic directions coming out of this Symposium will allow us to put emerging issues on the table. It was suggested that these two resources could be used to develop a response to Senator Pearson.
· A fundamental issue is the government’s commitment to developing a National Plan of Action, how we engage in civil society, and a feeling that civil society organizations are just feeding into a government process. A second issue is the federal/provincial/territorial relationship, in the ability of the Federal government to sign off on this document, although the provinces and territories are largely responsible for its implementation.
· Alliance organizations should reassert as an NGO community that we are simply engaging in a process. We do not have ownership of the goals of the NPA. However, the Alliance is interested in monitoring the plan.

AGENDA ITEM: Closing Remarks

Janet Davies

In her closing remarks, Janet Davies, from the Canadian Nurses Association and a member of the working group, thanked the participants for attending the Symposium, and for their hard work over the past two days. She noted that, “the Alliance did its consensus thing again this morning” with members coming to convergence on issues. She thanked Pierre Lacroix for his good work and recognized the speakers – both volunteer or conscripted – the secretariat staff, and the working group that organized the Symposium. Janet wished all participants a safe journey home.

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