Toronto Children's Charter

The Community and Neighbourhood Services Committee recommends the adoption of the recommendation of the Children and Youth Action Committee embodied in the following communication (December 3, 1998) from the City Clerk, subject to amending the Toronto Children's Charter by adding the following new provision as No. (10):

"(10)All Toronto children have the right to be protected from child abuse in or out of the home.";

and renumbering the original No. (10) accordingly:

Recommendation:

The Children and Youth Action Committee recommends that the Draft Toronto Children's Charter be approved.

Background:

The Children and Youth Action Committee on November 23, 1998, gave consideration to a communication from Councillor Chow forwarding the Draft Toronto Children's Charter.

Councillor Sherene Shaw provided a verbal update on the release of the Draft Children's Charter.

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(Communication from Councillor Olivia Chow,

Child and Youth Advocate.)

Background:

The purpose of the Toronto Children's Charter as drafted by the Children and Youth Advocate is to incorporate the spirit and substance of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and to serve as a benchmark by which to assess in a local context Canada's implementation of the Convention.

The Convention is the first international treaty which incorporates the full range of children's civil and political rights. In its 54 articles, it develops these general principles:

-States shall ensure each child enjoys full rights without discrimination or distinctions of any kind.

-The child's best interests shall be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social institutions, courts, administrative authorities or legislative bodies.

-Every child has an inherent right to life and States shall ensure, to the maximum extent possible, child survival and development.

-Children have the right to be heard.

Work began on drafting the Convention in 1979 - the International Year of the Child - and it was unanimously adopted by the United Nations on November 20, 1989. Since then the Convention has become the most widely-ratified human rights treaty in history. Only two nations - the United States and Somalia - have failed to ratify it.

In the same week as the Convention was adopted by the UN, the Canadian House of Commons passed a resolution pledging to end child poverty by the year 2000. Canada had played a leading role in drafting the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in convening the World Summit for Children in 1990. Our country ratified the Convention on December 13, 1991.

To monitor the implementation of the Convention, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, composed of international experts, was formed. Nations which have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child are required to report on measures they have taken to implement its terms.

In June 1995, in its response to the Canadian report, the Committee on the Rights of the Child praised Canada for its commitment to children's rights, but raised some concerns about the country's progress in meeting the terms of the Convention and made some recommendations.

These include:

"The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen the cooperation between mechanisms existing in its legal and administrative framework and enhance the coordination between federal, provincial and territorial authorities in the field of children's rights with a view to eliminating any possibility of disparity or discrimination in the implementation of the Convention and ensuring that the Convention is fully respected in all parts of its territory...

The Committee also emphasizes the need to take immediate steps to tackle the problem of child poverty and make every feasible effort to ensure that all families, particularly single parent families, have adequate resources and facilities...

The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to ensure that children from vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, such as aboriginal children, benefit from positive measures aimed at facilitating access to education and housing..."

In the three years since the report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, children's rights advocates have become increasingly concerned about the progress of Canadian governments in meeting the terms of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and about the country's commitment to end child poverty.

The incidence of child poverty is increasing. In Toronto, according to 1996 census data, 108,000 or 38 percent of children under the age of ten were living in poverty. That was an increase of 66percent in five years.

Of particular concern in assessing Canada's progress toward implementing the Convention is the growing tendency of senior levels of government to evade their responsibilities to children by reducing funding, by downloading programs and by claiming that they are unable to act because of jurisdictional strictures.

The Toronto Children's Charter was created to maintain public focus on the promises Canada made when adopting the Convention and when it vowed to end child poverty. Discussion of the charter and its ratification by organizations and local governments will serve as a reminder to federal and provincial governments that their promises to children remain unfulfilled.

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Toronto Children's Charter

Children, like other human beings, are entitled to fundamental rights and freedoms but, because of their unique vulnerability, it is incumbent upon adults to ensure not only that children are safe from exploitation and neglect, but that they have access to a fair share of the society's resources. While parents have the primary responsibility for their children's care and upbringing, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child makes it clear that governments have a duty to help families fulfil their responsibilities and to protect the rights of children. The Toronto Children's Charter situates the provisions of the Convention in a local context.

(1)All Toronto children shall be entitled to a standard of living adequate to ensure healthy physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development, well-being, and a good quality of life.

(2)All Toronto children shall be entitled to adequate nutrition on a consistent basis.

(3)All Toronto children shall be entitled to be housed in dwellings that reflect the normal standard of their community.

(4)All Toronto children shall be entitled to spend sufficient time with their families throughout their childhood.

(5)All Toronto children shall be entitled, if their parents so choose, to participate in high quality child care/early education programs designed to meet the best interests of the child.

(6)All Toronto children shall be entitled to participate in recreational and leisure activities, in the form of play, creative expression, and skill development opportunities.

(7)All Toronto children shall be entitled to receive primary, secondary and higher education to enable them to reach their full potential.

(8)All Toronto children shall be entitled to the highest attainable level of health and the assurance that the resources necessary to ensure life-long good health are available.

(9)All Toronto children have the right to be served by governments which acknowledge their responsibility to improve the health and well-being of children and work co-operatively to ensure adequate and equitable funding for children's programs.

(10)The foregoing rights shall apply to all Toronto children without discrimination according to race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, ability/disability, ethnic origin, language, region, property or class, religion, or any other distinction. This may entail the use of affirmative action or equity programs in order to redress situations of special individual, community or regional disadvantage.

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Goals for the City of Toronto

Reduce by half:

(1)Homeless children living in shelters.

(2)Children waiting for childcare and resource services.

(3)Low birth weight babies.

(4)Latch key children.

Currently in Toronto:

(1)Over 1,100 children are living in shelters every night.

(2)15,000 children are waiting to access childcare/early education programs.

(3)one in 15 (6.7 percent) babies are born with low birth-weight.

(4)One in four children (25 percent) ages 6-12 are left on their own before and after school without supervision.

(5)53,000 children use food banks.

(6)22 percent of students do not complete their secondary school education.

(7)Over one in three (38 percent) children live in poverty.