The United Nations committee on the rights of the child has released a report expressing serious concerns about the welfare of children in Canada -- particularly those who are Indigenous.
"The committee is deeply concerned about the discrimination against children in marginalized and disadvantaged situations," said the report, made public Thursday.
It's the first time the committee has examined Canada's adherence to the UN convention on the rights of the child in a decade, when a similarly scathing report was issued on the country's progress.The convention, which Canada signed in 1991, is a global treaty that lays out the full list of rights for all children up to the age of 18. Almost every country in the world has promised to protect and promote these rights.
In one example, the experts said the government needs to provide specialized health care to the children of the Anishinaabe community of Grassy Narrows First Nation, Ont., who are suffering severe and chronic physical and mental health problems as a result of mercury contamination in the water. Indigenous and Black children are still overrepresented in alternative forms of supervision like foster care, often outside their communities, the report said. They are also at higher risk of abuse, neglect and violence in alternative care than other children in Canada.
"Most think it'd be on the top, a world leading country for children," Austin said. "So there's a big gap between perception and reality." Several federal bills aimed at banning corporal punishment of children have failed in Parliament, Austin said.
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