The Challenge of Children's Rights for Canada

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

In 1990, Parliament and the legislatures of all provinces (except
Alberta) ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child (a copy of which appears as an appendix in this book). In six
clearly organized, well-written, and well-documented chapters, the book
spells out the implications of the Convention for children, assesses
Canada’s progress in meeting its obligations under the Convention, and
discusses the challenges that remain. The authors acknowledge the
progress that has occurred over the past decade. They are also very
sensitive to federal–provincial issues involved and profoundly
knowledgeable about developments in each jurisdiction. Indeed, it is
difficult to quibble with this book once one accepts its core premise
that children have fundamental rights to provision (e.g., food),
protection (e.g., from abuse), and participation in matters that affect
them (e.g., in the curriculum they are taught in school).

If there is any problem with the book it is the authors’ impatience
with Canadian governments who have ratified the Convention but have not
implemented it in its every aspect. Such impatience ignores the
complexities within which governments must work. More serious, the
authors downplay the financial implications of full compliance. Although
it is true that money spent on, say, universal day care will be more
than made up down the road when fewer juveniles are pushed through the
court system, governments face other competing demands that are equally
worthy, such as supporting universities. Given their naive faith in
government, it may not be a coincidence that both authors are professors
at the University College of Cape Breton and attached to the College’s
Children’s Rights Centre. Cape Breton has long been a recipient of
government largesse, and the value of governments and government
spending cannot have been lost on them.