Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children

Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children
AbbreviationCCRC
Formation1989
TypeNGO
Legal statusCoalition
PurposeTo advocate for children's rights
Location
Region served
Canada
Official language
English
Hala Mreiwed & Terence Hamilton (Co-Chairs)
AffiliationsUNICEF Canada
YOUCAN
Websiterightsofchildren.ca

The Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children (CCRC) is one of Canada's foremost national children's rights advocacy groups, dating back to 1989.[1] The coalition consists of more than fifty non-governmental organizations.[2]

In 1991, the Canadian Children's Rights Council adopted the same acronym as the coalition.[3] The CCRC released a report in 1999 called "How Does Canada Measure Up?" which criticized the way children were treated in the country, specifically focusing on children with disabilities.[4] In 2003, the Government of Canada consulted the CCRC on the country's adherence to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).[5] The CCRC published a shortened version of the CRC and disseminated it among Canadian youth in order to promote this international human rights instrument.[6]

The CCRC hosted a forum called "Children: Silenced Citizens?" in 2007 to discuss the CRC.[7] The CCRC submitted a plea on behalf of Omar Khadr in the 2009 legal case Prime Minister of Canada et al. v. Omar Ahmed Khadr.[8] Also on 2009, the organization established a Child Rights Award.[9]

In 2010, the CCRC collaborated with YOUCAN and UNICEF Canada to produce a brochure to inform Canadian youth about the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.[10]

In 2011, the CCRC submitted a report called "Right in Principle, Right in Practice" to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, making recommendations about how to improve Canadian public policy regarding children's rights.[citation needed] The report also stated that the Canadian government's implementation of the CRC over previous two decades has been sporadic at best.[11]

In 2018, the group advocated for a pollution tax on behalf of Canadian children and joined Gen Squeeze coalition that aimed to get intervenor status in two court cases that the provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan have filed challenging the federal government's legal authority to impose a carbon tax.[12][13]

  1. ^ Robert Brian Howe (2007). "Introduction". In Katherine Covell; Robert Brian Howe (eds.). A Question of Commitment: Children's Rights in Canada. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-1554580033.
  2. ^ Susie Veroff (2008). "Canada". In Irving Epstein; Leslie Limage (eds.). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children's Issues Worldwide. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 93. ISBN 978-0313336171.
  3. ^ Erica Burman (2008). Deconstructing Developmental Psychology. Routledge. p. 170. ISBN 978-0415395618.
  4. ^ Michael J. Prince (2006). "Canadian Disability Policy: Still a Hit-and-Miss Affair". In Jeff Keshen; Raymond Benjamin Blake (eds.). Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt: The Development of Social Policy in Canada. University of Toronto Press. p. 440. ISBN 1551115441.
  5. ^ Aisling Parkes (2013). Children and International Human Rights Law. Routledge. p. 345. ISBN 978-1135085193.
  6. ^ Christof H. Heyns; Frans Viljoen (2002). The Impact of the United Nations Human Rights Treaties on the Domestic Level. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 123. ISBN 9041117199.
  7. ^ Paula Reid (December 27, 2007). "Unhappy birthday for youth rights". Toronto Star. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  8. ^ Aaron Wherry (November 13, 2009). "The Commons: 'This is an exceptional case'". Maclean's. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  9. ^ "Child Rights Award". Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children. Archived from the original on 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  10. ^ J. Marshall Beier (2011-11-16). "Introduction: Everyday Zones of Militarization". In J. Marshall Beier (ed.). The Militarization of Childhood. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 4. doi:10.1057/9781137002143_1. ISBN 978-1137002143.
  11. ^ Noah Kenneally (2017). "Doing Children's Rights: Moving beyond Entitlements and into Relationships in Canadian Contexts". In Xiaobei Chen; Rebecca Raby; Patrizia Albanese (eds.). The Sociology of Childhood and Youth in Canada. Canadian Scholars. p. 339. ISBN 9781773380186.
  12. ^ Tracy Sherlock (2018-12-09). "Gen Squeeze makes a leap into defending environment". National Observer. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  13. ^ Ainslie Cruickshank (2018-12-12). "Scrapping carbon pricing would discriminate against young Canadians, group argues". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2019-03-21.