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Children's Rights Matter to Us: Over 400 Children and Youth Speak Out: Findings From the First Annual Listening Tour of the Ontario Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth.
Ontario Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth.
Technical Report
34 p.
Copyright
Published: October 2015
Ontario Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth
401 Bay Street, Suite 2200
Toronto, Ontario M7A 0A6,
Tel: 416-325-5669
1-800-263-2841 (toll free)
Fax: 416-325-5681
TDD/TTY: 416-325-2648
advocacy@provincialadvocate.on.ca
Available From:https://provincialadvocate.on.ca/
On November 13, 2014, the Ontario Advocate’s Office launched its first annual listening tour, leading up to the National Day of the Child, on November 20th, and met with children and youth in Toronto, London, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Manitoulin Island, Prince Edward County, Perth, and Ottawa. The Advocate and his staff met with youth in the care of the Children’s Aid Societies, children with special education needs, children with mental health needs, youth who were homeless, youth in custody and First Nations children – all groups of children within the mandate of the Advocate’s Office. This report represents the collective voice of the youth who participated and is organized in a manner that reflects the four principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, or UNCRC: every child has the right to decisions that are made in their best interest, every child has the right to survive, every child has the right to live free from discrimination, and every child has the right to participate and be heard in decisions that affect them. The feelings of youth are discussed and indicate they feel vulnerable, isolated, left out of their lives, that no one is really there for them, and that their care is unpredictable. In addition, First Nations youth reported feeling that they were losing their identity. The report closes with a list of positive comments from the youth that indicate they found what they needed in the services they were receiving. An appendix summarizes the UNCRC. 6 references.
Keywords:
Ontario; childrens rights; childs attitudes; youth engagement; child advocacy; children with disabilities; homeless children; foster children; United Nations; Canada