Canada's "Child Day" is held on November 20 each year as enacted in the
1993 Parliamentary Bill C-27.7, the Child Day Act.
Canada became a signatory to the United Nations Convention of the
Rights of Child (CRC) on May 28th, 1990 and ratified the Convention on
December 13th, 1991.
In 1989 a unanimous House of Commons resolution passed to end child
poverty in Canada by the year 2000. Yet today, depending upon whose
statistics one refers to, between 10 to 15 percent of children still
live in poverty.
Of all the countries participating in the OECD Early Learning and Care
review in 2003, Canada scored amongst the lowest. Furthermore, the
report noted, with the exception of Quebec, Early Learning and Care in
Canada is characterized by "a patchwork of uneconomic, fragmented
services, within which a small *child care* sector is seen as a
labour market support, often without a focussed child development and
education role".
A UNICEF report released in December 2008, *The child care
transition, Innocenti Report Card 8* on early childhood care and
education ranked Canada last among 25 developed nations. Canada met only
one of the 10 benchmarks of quality and access proposed in the report as
the minimum standard for protecting the rights of children in the early
years.
So, this Saturday November 20th, how will you be recognizing Canada*s
Child Day?
Dr.P.J. Lewis, Associate Professor