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Not There Yet — Canada's Implementation of the General

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Not There Yet — Canada's Implementation of the General Not There Yet Canada’s implementation of the general measures of the Convention on the Rights of the Child A joint publication of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre and UNICEF Canada UNICEF IRC publications are contributions to a global debate on child rights issues and include a wide range of opinions. For that reason, the Centre may produce publications that do not necessarily reflect UNICEF policies or approaches on some topics. The views expressed are those of the authors and are published by the Centre in order to stimulate further dialogue on child rights. Requests for permission to reproduce or translate UNICEF IRC publications should be addressed to: Communication and Partnership Unit, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, [email protected]. To download this report and any corrigenda issued subsequent to printing, or to access the most up-to-date publications files, please go to the publications pages on our website, at <www.unicef-irc.org/publications/>. Correspondence should be addressed to: UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre Piazza SS. Annunziata, 12 50122 Florence, Italy Tel: (39) 055 20 330 Fax: (39) 055 2033 220 [email protected] www.unicef-irc.org Front cover photo: © UNICEF Canada/2005/Sri Utami Design and layout: Bernard & Co., Siena, Italy Printing: ABC Tipografia srl, Florence, Italy © United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), August 2009 ISBN: 978-88-89129-92-0 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................. v ABBREVIATIONS .........................................................................................................................................vii FOREWORD ................................................................................................................................................. ix PREFACE ...................................................................................................................................................... xi 1. LAW REFORM AND THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD ............................................ 1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................1 Canada’s Constitution and the Convention.............................................................................................1 Status of the Convention in Canadian law..............................................................................................2 Canada’s reservations to the Convention ...............................................................................................2 Federal government and law reform.......................................................................................................3 Federal law reform ....................................................................................................................................4 Provincial law reform ................................................................................................................................7 Jurisprudence and the judiciary ..............................................................................................................9 General challenges to child rights in judicial interpretation and application .....................................11 Contributions to law reform from civil society .....................................................................................12 Should the Convention be incorporated into domestic law? ..............................................................12 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................................14 2. BUDGETING AND CHILDREN.................................................................................................................15 Introduction..............................................................................................................................................15 Budget allocations...................................................................................................................................15 Benefits for children in the federal budget............................................................................................16 Aboriginal children..................................................................................................................................17 Budgets for children in Canada’s international development assistance...........................................19 Provincial budgets ...................................................................................................................................19 Expenditures and evaluation..................................................................................................................20 Civil society and budgets for children ...................................................................................................21 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................................24 3. NATIONAL PLANS OF ACTION ..............................................................................................................25 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................25 Federal and provincial efforts.................................................................................................................25 Canada’s national plan of action............................................................................................................26 Analysis....................................................................................................................................................28 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................................29 iii 4. MONITORING MECHANISMS ................................................................................................................31 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 31 Federal government process of reporting to UN committees.............................................................31 Data collection .........................................................................................................................................32 Provincial reporting process...................................................................................................................33 Civil society efforts..................................................................................................................................34 Analysis and conclusion .........................................................................................................................36 5. CHILD RIGHTS EDUCATION, AWARENESS-RAISING AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES .......................... 37 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................37 Government activities.............................................................................................................................37 Civil society efforts .................................................................................................................................42 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................................43 6. INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS FOR CHILDREN .....................................................45 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................45 Federal level.............................................................................................................................................45 Provincial level.........................................................................................................................................48 Municipal level ........................................................................................................................................50 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................................50 7. COORDINATION EFFORTS AND MECHANISMS FOR CHILD RIGHTS.................................................51 National-level coordination ....................................................................................................................51 Provincial and local efforts .....................................................................................................................52 Challenges to coordination ....................................................................................................................54 Weaknesses in federal leadership on child rights .............................................................................. 55 Civil society capacity and resource contraints....................................................................................
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