Brief submitted by UNICEF Canada

to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology with regard to its study of the government’s response to

the COVID-19 pandemic (Order of Reference 2020-04-11).

UNICEF Canada 90 Eglinton Ave. E Suite 400 Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3 www.unicef.ca

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18 June 2020

INTRODUCTION

This brief is being submitted by UNICEF Canada to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology with regard to the Committee’s study on the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic (Order of Reference 2020-04-11). UNICEF Canada commends the swift and generally effective measures taken at all levels of government to quell the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. We applaud in particular the front-line workers who have been absolutely essential in navigating the crisis. With all Canadians, we mourn the lives that have been lost to COVID-19 and its attendant impacts on the health and well-being of people around the world. As the pandemic shifts towards a prolonged period of ongoing mitigation, the study of this Committee is an opportunity to take stock not only of how government has responded thus far, but also how it will address the crisis moving forward. It is also an opportunity to consider how the government might respond to similar future crises, be it another pandemic, international conflict, or societal disruption as a result of the changing climate. It is an important study and we are honoured to have the chance to contribute. ABOUT UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) works in 190 countries through country programs and National Committees. UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children. UNICEF is the world's leading child-focused humanitarian and development agency. Through innovative programs and advocacy work, we save children's lives and secure their rights in virtually every country. Our global reach, unparalleled influence on policymakers, and diverse partnerships make us an instrumental force in shaping a world in which no child dies of a preventable cause. UNICEF is entirely supported by voluntary donations and helps all children, regardless of race, religion or politics. The only organization named in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a source of expertise for governments, UNICEF has exceptional access to those whose decisions impact children’s survival and quality of life. We

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are the world’s advocate for children and their rights. For more information about UNICEF, please visit www.unicef.ca.

OVERVIEW OF UNICEF CANADA’S POSITION

As it became clear that COVID-19 was spreading in Canadian communities in March, decisions had to be made on extremely short notice that profoundly and immediately upended the lives of children across the country. Beyond those initial decisions, a rolling matrix of decisions was required to determine whether to heighten, relax, expand, or adapt pandemic mitigation measures. It is UNICEF Canada’s position that the government would have been greatly served in the making of such decisions by a number of child rights governance structures, including mechanisms for the consistent inclusion of the voice and opinions of children and youth. Specifically, UNICEF Canada recommends the use of Child Rights Impact Assessments in government decision-making; the establishment of an ad hoc Special Council for Children and Youth to advise government through the duration of the pandemic, and; sustained government outreach to include the voices and opinions of children and youth in government decision-making processes. In the longer term, UNICEF Canada recommends the establishment of a child rights governance infrastructure that would incorporate these processes into Canada’s parliamentary process, to promote the rights and well-being of children, and to leave the country better prepared for any similar future crisis. These measures include the establishment of a National Commissioner for Children and Youth; the systematic use of Child Rights Impact Assessments; and the integration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Canadian domestic law. This submission further includes more specific recommendations as they pertain to COVID-19’s impact on children’s health, education, material security, family support, and protection. A full list of recommendations is included as APPENDIX A. Precisely because so few opportunities exist for the opinions of young people to be taken into account by government during the pandemic, UNICEF Canada collaborated with partner organizations from across the country to support a diverse group of young people in writing an open letter to Canada about their experience of the pandemic. That letter, including their recommendations, is included as APPENDIX B. Finally, considering the COVID-19 pandemic continues despite early success at mitigation, and in recognition of the fact that the impacts of the pandemic and society’s efforts to mitigate it will reverberate throughout children’s lives, UNICEF Canada recommends that this Senate

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Committee return again to this topic of study at minimum intervals of 12 months, three years, and five years removed from the date the pandemic was declared. ANALYSIS The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a health crisis, but also a children’s crisis. Older and vulnerable people are bearing the greatest burden of illness and mortality. There is a perception among many that because children are less likely to experience severe symptoms of COVID-19, they are less affected. Canada’s children and youth are not the generation that is most likely to fall ill from coronavirus, but they will carry its impacts the longest. The pandemic lockdown has curtailed almost every aspect of childhood. Children are making sacrifices of their education, play, mental and physical health, material security and safety. They are missing out on critical developmental milestones, from the early years when young children need to learn how to play with others, to the loss and grief of missing out on cultural celebrations and school proms and graduations that mark important milestones. Young people are confined and cut off from many of the people and services they depend on to help fulfil their rights and needs, from childcare, to education, to health and protection services, to community programs. Every child is affected, and UNICEF Canada is particularly concerned about the heightened impacts on the most vulnerable children, who are more likely to detach from school and sustain mental and physical trauma. Many Indigenous children, children in alternative care, children with special needs and children deprived of liberty are among those at greater risk of the deprivations and long-term impacts of lockdown. GOVERNANCE UNICEF Canada’s first tier of recommendations concern the establishment of child rights governance mechanisms that would help government navigate the COVID-19 crisis for children. These recommendations remain relevant to the Committee to the extent that the COVID-19 pandemic remains a pressing threat to the rights of children in Canada, and because the effects of the pandemic and society’s efforts to mitigate it will weigh heavy on the rights and well-being of children for many years to come. They would also be of significant benefit to government processes outside of the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. As it became clear that COVID-19 was spreading in Canadian communities in March, decisions had to be made on extremely short notice that profoundly and immediately upended the lives of children across the country. Beyond those initial decisions, a rolling matrix of decisions was

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required to determine whether to heighten, relax, expand, or adapt pandemic mitigation measures. It is UNICEF Canada’s position that the government would have been greatly served in the making of such decisions by a number of child rights governance structures, including mechanisms for the consistent inclusion of the voice and opinions of children and youth, to better consider and mitigate specific impacts on children and to balance a broader range of considerations when considering impacts. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Canada is a signatory to the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Although Canada ratified the Convention in 1991, it has never been incorporated into Canadian law. As a result, children and youth in Canada have limited appeal to their rights as outlined in the Convention. Recommendation 1: The Parliament of Canada should move to adopt legislation that fully incorporates the Convention and its Optional Protocols into Canadian law. Canada is currently participating in the combined 5th/6th periodic review of its efforts to implement the Convention, although the process has been delayed by the pandemic. UNICEF Canada regrets that many of the concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child with regard to Canada’s implementation of the Convention in Canada have been ignored, including several that echo the recommendations made in this submission. A serious commitment to implement the Convention to which it is party would have better prepared Canada to deal with the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has posed to children’s rights. The pandemic has caused the federal government’s inter-departmental working group on children’s rights to cancel planned consultations with civil society groups regarding the combined 5th/6th UNCRC review. The unprecedented disruption of children’s lives and the accompanying threat to their current and future well-being makes the issue of children’s rights more urgent than ever, and should be cause for more meaningful discussion with sector experts, not less. We hope the experience of the last months will spur renewed effort within the federal government to prioritize implementation of the Convention in Canada. Child Rights Impact Assessments: Government stimulus and response at all stages of the pandemic must consider the broad range of possible impacts on children, which extend beyond health protection, taking steps to balance risks, avoid or soften negative impacts and listen directly to children and youth to support their coping strategies, priorities and ideas to improve responses. The best way to ensure this is for Child Rights Impact Assessments (CRIAs) to be incorporated in the legislative process at all levels of government. When properly implemented, CRIAs can provide evidence of the intended and unintended effects of government decisions on the rights of children, and help identify reasonable alternatives for consideration. The use of CRIAs is an

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essential step towards ensuring the Convention is implemented through government policy and legislation. They can be undertaken rapidly in crisis situations such as the pandemic (as the Government of Scotland has demonstrated). All levels of government would also have been better able to address children’s needs as a priority if the Federal-Provincial-Territorial framework of common principles for COVID-19 response included consideration of the best interests of children and youth. Recommendation 2: Child Rights Impact Assessments should be incorporated into parliamentary process as a corollary to the existing Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) process. Recommendation 3: The Senate should undertake its own ad hoc Child Rights Impact Assessments of all bills tabled by the Senate, or referred to the Senate by the House of Commons. A National Commissioner for Children and Youth: Another barrier to the proper consideration of children and their well-being in the government’s COVID-19 response has been the lack of a centralized governance body or structure responsible for the coordination, monitoring, and assessment of government efforts to promote and protect the rights and wellbeing of children in Canada. The establishment of a National Commissioner for Children and Youth has been recommended repeatedly by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF Canada, and a wide range of other organizations and sector experts. UNICEF has studied the global efficiacy of similar institutions, validating their importance. Numerous bills have been introduced that would have established such an office; none have been successful. We are encouraged to see another such bill introduced recently in the Senate (S-217), and encourage all Senators to support it. Recommendation 4: The government of Canada should move quickly to establish an independent Children’s Commissioner or Ombudsperson as an Officer of Parliament, in full accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles) and the relevant General Comments of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Children’s Right to be Heard: Children and youth under 18 have political rights that are curtailed by their inability to vote under the Elections Act. Nevertheless, Parliament has a duty to represent these citizens, who form close to twenty percent of Canada’s population. It is imperative that Parliament take special measures to ensure the opinions of children and youth are included in government decisions. UNICEF Canada continues to advocate for more meaningful opportunities for children and youth to interact with Parliamentarians and have their voices heard. In response to the

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pandemic, UNICEF Canada partnered with organizations from across the country to support a group of diverse young people, including those further from opportunity who typically are excluded from youth consultations, to write an open letter to Canada. We published this letter in numerous national publications, and are honoured to submit the letter to this Senate Committee on their behalf (included as Appendix B). Throughout UNICEF Canada’s ongoing engagement with children and youth in Canada, it is clear to us that their experiences of the pandemic are varied; that some adult-led studies, surveys and speculation about their impacts and needs are not fully representative of or consistent with these experiences; that most young people are very concerned with continuing to “flatten the curve”; and that their needs and interests have not been a high enough priority with a number of gaps in response to the pandemic that could have been avoided with the measures described above. HEALTH This pandemic poses an unprecedented health crisis for children through a combination of reduced services, loss of healthy behaviours and exposure to additional risks. It also has the potential to store up serious health problems for this generation in the coming years. With strained health systems and health care providers, there is an increased likelihood that some essential services for children will be curtailed. Newborn care and support: As staff across maternity care services are reduced due to sickness and redeployment, support for new mothers to breastfeed may be limited. As a result, rates of breastfeeding may drop substantially. The stress of giving birth in these circumstances may increase the risk of postpartum depression and anxiety among new mothers, while support following birth may be reduced. Antenatal care may be affected with more appointments being carried out remotely, or missed altogether. Recommendation 5: Ensure that children and pregnant and lactating women are supported and that breastfeeding can safely continue. Childhood vaccinations: Routine vaccinations are essential health services, and disruptions to childhood immunization can lead to new outbreaks of infectious disease to which children are the most susceptible. Any short-term loss of immunization will put babies at increased risk of potentially serious illness and life-threatening complications. Home confinement is not a sufficient protective measure for vaccine-preventable childhood diseases.

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Recommendation 6: Provide immunizations, antenatal check-ins and other clinical services in creative new ways to support physical distancing, backed by public information and outreach to encourage access. Mental health: Children who already struggle with anxiety, and many who did not previously, are now feeling very anxious. They may worry about their health or the health of loved ones, particularly if parents are at high-risk or work in essential services, and the loss, challenges and uncertainties of so many aspects of life. The mental health burden of witnessing families and community members in anxiety over the pandemic, being separated from and losing loved ones to illness, disruption of social and support networks and services including education and community programs, loss of routines and grief over lost developmental milestones is a significant burden for children and youth that may lead to greater anxiety, trauma and prolonged mental health challenges for many. At a time when they most need support – professional and informal – it is least available. Mental health services have largely been replaced with online or telephone support, or postponed. Some young people may find this less effective or may worry about maintaining privacy if sessions are held remotely with family members close by. Recommendation 7: Support children and caregivers to cope with stress and anxiety by providing appropriate, targeted campaigns, information and resources for parents, teachers and young people of different age groups. Recommendation 8: Provide support for additional staff and programming for family and child help lines and for community youth programs during the pandemic. Recommendation 9: Train educators and child and youth service providers in psychosocial first aid. Healthy behaviours: The pandemic has lowered children’s engagement in health-promoting behaviours. When children are out of school they are typically less physically active, have irregular sleep patterns and less favourable diets. While temporary behaviours need not have long-term impacts and may be coping mechanisms, the risk of cyclical and ongoing lockdowns raises longer-term risks of obesity and an impact on children’s mental health. Sexual health: Access to sexual health clinics and support will be curtailed. There are concerns around STIs, unplanned pregnancies as well as access to counselling for sexual assault trauma. Loss of the supportive environment: Many of the ways in which young people manage their mental health – social support through friends and family, daily routines, physical activity, being outdoors, participating in school and community services and programs – have been impaired by the pandemic. Disrupted routines can cause distress for those suffering from anxiety, eating

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disorders and other mental health difficulties. School and other community spaces and programs are important sources of support for many young people, as well as a respite for those who have a difficult time at home. For these young people, being cut off from some of these critical services, places and people will be extremely difficult. Recommendation 10: Provide (and work with community partners to provide) sufficient hygiene supplies, procedures and information in public places where children gather including schools, day cares, recreation centres, youth shelters and group homes. MATERIAL SECURITY Physical distancing policies have mandated many public services and business to close and employees to stay at home to mitigate the contagion and spread of the virus. The loss of employment and income for both parents and youth will diminish families’ abilities to meet their basic needs, and compound stress and anxiety Some of these impacts will prevail despite the robustness of emergency income supports, heightening the risk of children falling into, or deeper into, poverty and stunting the social mobility of a generation. Recommendation 11: Continue to provide emergency income support to a level sufficient to meet children’s needs, and use every means available to incentivize employers to protect workers’ employment, including youth employees. Nutrition: Families face uncertain financial futures because of the economic crisis triggered by coronavirus. For those already experiencing financial hardship, further reductions in income, job loss and the increased cost of having children out of school will exacerbate food insecurity. Households with children typically have lower food security. For these families, the additional pressures of children being at home instead of school, difficulties in buying an appropriate range of foods within their budget, disruptions to the food supply and challenges for community-based emergency food distribution pose a crisis in which many families will struggle to feed their children, with lasting mental and physical health impacts for some. Recommendation 12: Some children rely on school lunches and meals provided in other community programs. Provide alternative solutions during disruptions in these settings for vulnerable populations. Ensure that a return to school includes a guaranteed school meal/nutritional program for every child. Recommendation 13: Rationing and supply disruption of groceries in small and remote communities and in urban “food deserts” can severely affect children. Help ensure the

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orderly transport of sufficient food to these communities, with special measures for self-isolating Indigenous communities. Housing: Physical distancing to protect health is not as feasible or effective for children and their caretakers who live in overcrowded housing and densely populated neighbourhoods with limited outdoor amenities, compounding their risk. Families with children also face a heightened risk of eviction, during or after the pandemic (when temporary bans on evictions lift). Combined with more stressful household relationships, the risk of youth homelessness is heightened. Children and youth already homeless also face compounded risks during the pandemic. Recommendation 14: Provide emergency housing for children and families if needed, and ban evictions for families with children until they recover. FAMILY SUPPORT AND CHILD PROTECTION Lockdown is likely to increase the risk of children’s exposure to abuse and exploitation. Children may be separated from family members due to hospitalization, border/travel restrictions or medical isolation/quarantine of parents, presenting protection and mental and physical health risks to children. They may be alone at home or in public spaces if parents are ill or unable to provide direct supervision due to employment or other demands on them. Children who are excluded from school and other community spaces are at heightened risk of exploitation and other harm. A combustible environment has been created with widespread income loss, confinement, challenges to reconcile parental work and education support for children and difficulties in helping children cope. Stress for parents during this time might also contribute to an increased risk of substance misuse or worsening mental health symptoms. While schools are closed, many children will spend longer periods of unsupervised time online. While this provides many opportunities for socializing and education, it also increases the risk of online harm. For children confined in abusive homes, there is the potential for more exposure to harm, with fewer avenues to get informal support and fewer teachers and community members to report abuse and engage child protection services. This is likely to increase abuse and impair children’s mental health and development. It may also propel more young people into homelessness. We may never know the full extent of childhood abuse and neglect as so much of it remains hidden. While some of those who experience, or are at heightened risk of, abuse are known to social services, many more are not. Child protective services have not typically been designated as essential, and may be limited to virtual access. It is essential that children who experience abuse are identified and supported as far as possible, but every effort must be

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made to avoid and prevent heightened risk of abuse and reduce the number of children in need of protective services. Recommendation 15: Work with children’s services to ensure protection of children temporarily separated from their families. Recommendation 16: Designate child protection services as essential and ensure outreach and support continues, with increased capacity following the lockdown. Recommendation 17: Consider some community children’s programs (such as day camps and youth clubs) as essential, with safe physical spaces for children and youth to access support and reprieve. Recommendation 18: Provide enhanced support to homeless young people. Recommendation 19: For young people deprived of liberty, provide for early release when possible based on a best interests determination, and sustain their access to independent advocacy, development programs and visits with caring relations. Recommendation 20: For children in alternative care, ensure that their family and community visits are sustained, using virtual measures if physical distancing is required following consideration of the needs and protection of all children and adults in the circle of care. EDUCATION Every child has the right to learn. It is likely that prolonged school closures and loss of early years care and education will widen the attainment gap, increase the risk of detachment from school and lead to entrenched inequalities that follow children throughout their lives. School closures will also have multiple secondary impacts, many of which are highlighted elsewhere in this briefing. These include exacerbated food insecurity and child protection vulnerabilities, as well as increasing physical and mental health risks. Virtual school continuity is a key measure to offer young people opportunities to complete credentials and continue learning. While some children will receive parental support and have supportive resources at home to engage, others will face considerable challenges to continued learning at home. The education divide is more than digital. Children in families that cannot afford resources for home learning activities and lack broadband access, where parents have low levels of educational attainment or are not fluent English speakers, where there are special

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needs or where there is inadequate space and support for effective learning, will likely fall behind during this period – often accompanied by increased anxiety. Early childhood education (ECE) provides an essential service both in preparing children for school and enabling parents to work. Quality ECE is critical for establishing the building blocks for learning. The foundation of education is established before primary school begins. Short-term closures and the potential loss of privately run nurseries in the longer term are likely to contribute further to inequality in education outcomes. Approaches to continue education during lockdown and to reopen schools should give priority to the contribution of schools and education to the broader well-being of young people, particularly in the early recovery period. Recommendation 21: During school closures, facilitate continued access to a basic level of education to ensure some continuity of learning and support children and parents in providing a normalized daily routine, including technology support to every student for remote learning. School continuity should recognize that some students will not be able to meet learning expectations and offer specialized alternatives, as well as appropriate re-engagement and catch-up once schools open. Recommendation 22: Schools should work to reduce anxiety and “friction” by keeping education continuity simple to engage with, eliminate exams where possible, and avoid a grading system that exacerbates school failure and exclusion. Recommendation 23: Provide psychosocial support to young people as a regular part of learning and with additional support for students who need it, both during and after school closures. This may include additional staffing of school support workers, particularly in the weeks following school re-opening. Recommendation 24: Continue to provide accurate information through effective channels about how adults and children can keep themselves and others safe. Recommendation 25: Reopen schools and childcare at the earliest opportunity, considering new global guidelines to help balance health and the best interests of children. When schools begin to reopen, give priority to children with special needs and those who are vulnerable to detachment and exclusion. Ensure a broad focus on and support for well-being, including play and socialization, nutrition and mental health. CONCLUSION

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As the pandemic eases, we call on all levels of government to take a child-sensitive approach as they “open up” and lift or alter control measures, ensuring the best interests of children are an urgent priority. The coronavirus is exposing the shortcomings of Canada’s public policies for children and young people prior to the pandemic. Governments must also ensure that stimulus contraction does not further damage children’s recovery and that we take this opportunity to “build back better” rather than return to a pre-pandemic state that was never good enough for children and youth. Recommendation 26: Launch a Comprehensive Child and Youth Reimagine and Recover Plan at every level of government to give this generation support to recover to a better situation on the other side of the pandemic. In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic is just beginning. While the risk of the disease itself will hopefully recede over the coming months, its direct effects and the effects of society’s efforts to mitigate it will continue to be discovered and felt for many years to come. This means that for those of us concerned for the rights and well-being of children in Canada, our work to study and address the impacts of COVID-19 has also just begun. Recommendation 27: The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology should conduct further studies of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including specific consideration of its lasting impacts on children and childhood in Canada, at minimum intervals of 12 months, three years, and five years removed from the date the pandemic was declared. This could be supported by including broad indicators of child and youth well-being in public health surveillance and in federal “well-being budgets.”

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APPENDIX ‘A’ – LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

Governance Recommendation 1: The Parliament of Canada should move to adopt legislation that fully incorporates the Convention and its Optional Protocols into Canadian law. Recommendation 2: Child Rights Impact Assessments should be incorporated into parliamentary process as a corollary to the existing Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) process. Recommendation 3: In lieu of the adoption of Recommendation 2, the Senate should undertake its own ad hoc Child Rights Impact Assessments of all bills tabled by the Senate, or referred to the Senate by the House of Commons. Recommendation 4: The government of Canada should move quickly to establish an independent Children’s Commissioner or Ombudsperson as an Officer of Parliament, in full accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles) and the relevant General Comments of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Health Recommendation 5: Ensure that children and pregnant and lactating women are supported and that breastfeeding can safely continue. Recommendation 6: Provide immunizations, antenatal check-ins and other clinical services in creative new ways to support physical distancing, backed by public information and outreach to encourage access. Recommendation 7: Support children and caregivers to cope with stress and anxiety by providing appropriate, targeted campaigns, information and resources for parents, teachers and young people of different age groups. Recommendation 8: Provide support for additional staff and programming for family and child help lines and for community youth programs during the pandemic. Recommendation 9: Train educators and child and youth service providers in psychosocial first aid.

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Recommendation 10: Provide (and work with community partners to provide) sufficient hygiene supplies, procedures and information in public places where children gather including schools, day cares, recreation centres, youth shelters and group homes. Material Security Recommendation 11: Continue to provide emergency income support to a level sufficient to meet children’s needs, and use every means available to incentivize employers to protect workers’ employment, including youth employees. Recommendation 12: Some children rely on school lunches and meals provided in other community programs. Provide alternative solutions during disruptions in these settings for vulnerable populations. Ensure that a return to school includes a guaranteed school meal/nutritional program for every child. Recommendation 13: Rationing and supply disruption of groceries in small and remote communities and in urban “food deserts” can severely affect children. Help ensure the orderly transport of sufficient food to these communities, with special measures for self-isolating Indigenous communities. Recommendation 14: Provide emergency housing for children and families if needed, and ban evictions for families with children until they recover. Family Support and Child Protection Recommendation 15: Work with children’s services to ensure protection of children temporarily separated from their families. Recommendation 16: Designate child protection services as essential and ensure outreach and support continues, with increased capacity following the lockdown. Recommendation 17: Consider some community children’s programs (such as day camps and youth clubs) as essential, with safe physical spaces for children and youth to access support and reprieve. Recommendation 18: Provide enhanced support to homeless young people. Recommendation 19: For young people deprived of liberty, provide for early release when possible based on a best interests determination, and sustain their access to independent advocacy, development programs and visits with caring relations.

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Recommendation 20: For children in alternative care, ensure that their family and community visits are sustained, using virtual measures if physical distancing is required following consideration of the needs and protection of all children and adults in the circle of care. Education Recommendation 21: During school closures, facilitate continued access to a basic level of education to ensure some continuity of learning and support children and parents in providing a normalized daily routine, including technology support to every student for remote learning. School continuity should recognize that some students will not be able to meet learning expectations and offer specialized alternatives, as well as appropriate re-engagement and catch-up once schools open. Recommendation 22: Schools should work to reduce anxiety and “friction” by keeping education continuity simple to engage with, eliminate exams where possible, and avoid a grading system that exacerbates school failure and exclusion. Recommendation 23: Provide psychosocial support to young people as a regular part of learning and with additional support for students who need it, both during and after school closures. This may include additional staffing of school support workers, particularly in the weeks following school re-opening. Recommendation 24: Continue to provide accurate information through effective channels about how adults and children can keep themselves and others safe. Recommendation 25: Reopen schools and childcare at the earliest opportunity, considering new global guidelines to help balance health and the best interests of children. When schools begin to reopen, give priority to children with special needs and those who are vulnerable to detachment and exclusion. Ensure a broad focus on and support for well-being, including play and socialization, nutrition and mental health. Moving Forward Recommendation 26: Launch a Comprehensive Child and Youth Reimagine and Recover Plan at every level of government to give this generation support to recover to a better situation on the other side of the pandemic. Recommendation 27: The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology should conduct further studies of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including specific consideration of its lasting impacts on children and childhood in Canada, at minimum intervals of 12 months, three years, and five years removed from the date

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the pandemic was declared. This could be supported by including broad indicators of child and youth well-being in public health surveillance and in federal “well-being budgets”.

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APPENDIX ‘B’ – OPEN LETTER FROM YOUTH Dear Canada,

On behalf of young people in Canada, we have come together to tell you how COVID-19 is affecting us,

and how you can support our generation throughout and after this pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives.

In order to do our part, we are making sacrifices. Many of us have had to put our health care and

education on pause. It’s hard to get help to meet teachers’ expectations. Some of us live in unsafe

homes. Some of us risk our health and safety to work in essential services, while others can’t get the

summer jobs we need. A few of us have had to process the fact that our Gender-Affirming Surgeries or

Hormone Replacement Therapy that we have been anticipating for so long are being postponed

indefinitely. We are doing our best to adapt to the “new normal” when the world is nowhere close to

normal. We’re adjusting to no longer being able to have in-person appointments with counsellors and

therapists we’ve built relationships with. We’re trying to figure out how to apply for government funding.

Some of us are missing out on things we’ve been looking forward to, like graduations. Most of all we miss

being with our friends, having trusted allies to support us and feeling safe walking outside. As you

consider how to best support young people in these times, remember that some of us don’t have access

to technology or Wi-Fi, some of us are couch surfing to stay safe, some of us don’t have living conditions

that allow us to practice physical distancing, many of us are experiencing mental health challenges and

many others are facing new challenges in these uncertain times. We are feeling uncertain, lonely,

unmotivated and frustrated, but we are doing everything we can to check-in with friends and family, to

take care of those around us and flatten the curve.

Here is what we would like to see Canada’s leaders do right now to support young people as we move

through this pandemic together:

RESPOND:

● Reach out to youth as you make decisions about how to help Canada through the pandemic.

Young people are experts in their own lives and know best what we need and want.

● Speak directly to young people in language we understand. Provide clear instructions and

eligibility information for government programs.

● Counter discrimination against people on the basis of their ethnicity or country of origin.

RECOVER:

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● Consider the needs and priorities of young people in balancing and trading-off how Canada

begins to open up and recover.

● Prioritize opening up health services such as services for marginalized communities, mental

health services, elective surgeries, physiotherapists, and dentists as soon as it is safe to do so.

This pandemic will have an impact on everyone’s mental health. We believe that increased

funding for these services is an important step in taking care of all Canadians.

● Open our schools, childcare centres, libraries, and community centres with physical distancing

measures as soon as possible. They can be safe spaces for those who are in unsafe or difficult

homes, or need a quiet space with a computer and internet connection to do schoolwork or find

information.

REIMAGINE:

With your support, we can lighten the impacts of this pandemic on our generation. As everything

transitions to a new normal, let’s remember how we’ve worked together and supported each other.

“We are not all in the same boat, but we are all in the same storm.”

Thank you, Merci, Miigwetch,

This letter was developed and is signed by:

1. Aidan, Ontario

2. Alec, Alberta

3. Alexander, Alberta

4. Brittany, British Columbia

5. Cheyenne, British Columbia

6. Emmanuel, Manitoba

7. Jack, Ontario

8. Jeremie, Manitoba

9. Olivia, Ontario

10. Shealah, Newfoundland and Labrador

We extend our gratitude to our partner organizations who supported young people to participate in this process, and who undersign this letter: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, Child Welfare League of Canada, Saskatchewan Youth in Care and Custody, The Students Commission of Canada, UNICEF Canada, Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society, YMCA Canada, and Youth in Care Canada