Roles, Responsibilities, and Rights: An Organisational Analysis of Provincial and Territorial Child and Youth Advocate Offices in Canada

Abstract

Abstract Limited academic literature has explored the responsibilities of Provincial and Territorial Child and Youth Advocates in Canada. This paper analyses the responsibilities that constitute the role of Canadian Provincial and Territorial Child and Youth Advocates, as well as the forces that impact and shape these responsibilities. A total of 17 participants, including current and former members of the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates (cccya) as well as their staff members are included in the study. Findings reveal that individual advocacy, systemic advocacy, investigations into critical injuries and child deaths, as well as educational outreach, constitute the primary responsibilities of the cccya. Additionally, at the provincial and territorial level, it is important for advocates to navigate the historical, cultural and political factors that inform discourses surrounding childhood as these factors impact the way advocacy is understood and carried out within these organisations.