Past Due: A plan for children and youth in Canada

Everyday matters in the life of a child. Children and youth living in Canada are falling further and further behind their peers internationally. Canada needs a plan to make up lost ground – and moreover, a plan that positions children and youth as an investment in our collective future. Bill S-212 is positioned to deliver it.

The children’s health and wellbeing community calls on the federal government to pass Bill S-212 into law before the end of this parliamentary session. Introduced by Senator Moodie and sponsored in the House of Commons by Liberal MP Braedon Clark, this legislation would establish the framework for a national strategy for children and youth in Canada. 

This bill would ensure that policies targeting children, youth and families are achieving desired outcomes, and that there would be transparency and accountability for funding supports to measurably improve children’s health and wellbeing. 

Eight million kids (a number increasing year over year) are counting on the adults in charge to give them what they need to grow up healthy and well. By nearly every measure, our kids are not alright: One in five children in Canada lives with a preventable chronic illness. One in four youth struggle with mental health. More than 100,000 children have been diagnosed with medical complexity. Approximately one in five children has no primary care provider. And in most cases, children wait longer for essential healthcare than adults do. This is not acceptable in one of the wealthiest nations on earth.

Canada ranks 22th out of 37 OECD countries in UNICEF’s child wellbeing report card. We sit in the bottom third for adolescent suicide, child mortality, and childhood obesity. We have the resources to do better. What we lack is a coordinated plan. 

Recent federal investments in dental care, childcare, school nutrition, and mental health services are meaningful and necessary. But they are not sufficient. Programs layered onto a system that was never designed for children will only go so far. Canada’s healthcare system was not built with children and youth in mind, and the results speak for themselves.

What children and youth in Canada need is a coordinated, cross-jurisdictional approach that sets clear priorities, makes strategic investments, and holds governments accountable for measurable outcomes. In short, they need a healthcare system that is accessible, equitable, connected, and designed for them.

The evidence for investing in children’s health is robust and unambiguous. Modelling shows that every dollar invested in children’s healthcare can yield up to a fivefold return. Strategic investment produces better health outcomes for children, reduces the caregiving burden on families, and generates long-term savings for the health system. This is smart policy at every level.

Bill S-212 does not prescribe solutions but rather enables collaboration across jurisdictions and sectors — a pragmatic and long-overdue constructive step forward. Advancing a national children’s strategy is nation-building work. The decisions made in this Parliament will shape the health, resilience, and prosperity of the generation that will inherit this country.

Children’s health is not a niche concern. It is the foundation of a sustainable healthcare system and of Canada’s long-term social and economic prosperity. When children thrive, families are stronger, health systems are more resilient, and the costs borne by future governments are lower. Every month of delay is another month that children wait, families struggle, and a preventable burden grows. Pass Bill S-212. Now.

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