REGINA – The United Nations is marking 25 years since the convention on the rights of the child; however Saskatchewan’s child and youth advocate says there’s still work to be done, including reducing the highly disproportionate number of Aboriginal children in care.
“In a lot of the cases, it’s poverty,” said Treena Wynes with the office of the Saskatchewan children’s advocate. “We know that if children have housing, if they have food, the basic needs, then their family situation is a lot happier.”
According to the Saskatchewan children’s advocate, 83 per cent of children in care in the province are Aboriginal.
“First Nations youth and children, but even families, there’s discrimination,” said Wynes.
Youth at Regina’s Street Culture Project are learning about their rights and making their voices heard on Canada’s National Child Day.
A group of about 20 youth and staff members marched through downtown Regina Thursday displaying signs stating children’s rights.
“They wanted to bring a voice and a face to young people formerly incarcerated, street involved, and now taxpaying citizens,” said Kim Sutherland, CEO of Street Culture Project.
“They don’t vote, they don’t get a voice often, so I think as a result, we kind of overlook some of their issues,” said Stephanie Clark with the Street Culture Project.
Clark said children are often undervalued and adding to that difficulty is a lack of equal standards for services across Saskatchewan.
“In the rural communities there are services that are not available,” said Wynes. “An example would be mental health services. It’s a real struggle.”
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