The Challenge of Children's Rights for Canada

Abstract

Canada signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child over a decade ago, yet there is still a lack of awareness about and provision for children's rights. What are Canada's obligations to children? How has Canada fallen short? Why is it so important to the future of Canadian society that children's rights be met? Prompted by the gap between the promise of children's rights and the reality of their continuing denial, Katherine Covell and R. Brian Howe call for changes to existing laws, policies and practices. Using the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as their framework, the authors examine the continuing problems of child poverty, child care, child protection, youth justice and the suppression of children's voices. They challenge us to move from seeing children as parental property to seeing children as independent bearers of rights. In The Challenge of Children's Rights for Canada, Canada's obligations and the rights of children are examined from the perspectives of research and development in the fields of developmental psychology, developmental neuroscience, law and family policy. This timely and accessible book will be of interest to academics, policy-makers and anyone who cares about children and about taking children's rights seriously.