The Nova Scotia College of Social Workers is holding out hope that the fall sitting of the Nova Scotia legislature will see the government table legislation to create a promised Child and Youth Commission.
“Youth cannot wait, children cannot wait while government sorts this out,” says Alec Stratford, the executive director and registrar of the college.
“At this point in time, we seem to be stalled out in terms of delivering on this crucial office to protect the rights of children in Nova Scotia at a time when, more than ever, we need to see the rights of children protected,” he says in an interview.
He points to policy changes made in other provinces, such as New Brunswick’s Policy 713 and Saskatchewan’s policy on names in pronouns in schools.
“We’ve seen provincial governments across Canada deliberately tackle on the rights of children, particularly LGBTQ2SIA communities and children, where governments seem to be putting child rights aside for political purposes and political purposes that target the most vulnerable of children,” he says.
MLAs are set to return to the Province House for the fall sitting Thursday. Stratford hopes the provincial government legislation will move forward to establish the commission.
The purpose of the commission would be to provide a “political and public apparatus” to report to “when policy is being provided or programs are falling short on delivering on their on their rights,” Stratford says.
Government commitment
In November 2021, while addressing the Restorative Inquiry into the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, Premier Tim Houston committed to creating a commission.
“Over the next few months, we will work with community partners to design a Child and Youth Commission to protect and advance the rights, interests and viewpoints of children and youth in Nova Scotia,” Houston said Nov. 4, 2021 in the legislature.
But what Houston left out in his speech was a timeline. That timeline was in the prepared statement, shared publicly by the Premier’s Office.
“We want to do this right. We will work with communities and our colleagues in this House to design legislation and introduce it next spring,” the written statement said. “We will have more details to share soon.”
Karla MacFarlane, the former minister of the department of community services, said the commission would be independent from government and guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Timeline remains a question
In a statement to Global News Thursday, Trevor Boudreau, the new minister responsible, says “the department conducted extensive stakeholder engagement. We continue to speak to interested parties on what legislation will look like.”
“This is important work,” he says. “I want to be sure we get it right, and I don’t want to rush its creation. While I cannot comment on a timeframe regarding possible upcoming legislation, I commit to doing my part to make Nova Scotia the best province for children to grow up in.”
Stratford was part of consultations and agrees things were moving in the right direction, but the creation has been “stalled.”
“We saw progress. There was momentum with consultations happening. A steering committee formed, recommendations have been made,” Stratford says. “We’re now waiting on government to table legislation and fund this crucial office.”
“Children cannot wait another six, eight months for this to get established,” he says.
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