Government of Canada Initiatives to Protect Children

In November 1997, the Honourable Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, asked the newly established Law Commission of Canada (LCC) for a report, developed in consultation with all interested parties, on the process for dealing with institutional child physical and sexual abuse. The Minister's request recognized that the mandate of the Commission -- to adopt a broad multi-disciplinary approach to its work that views the law and the legal system in a broad social and economic context -- made it ideally suited to explore this complex issue.
The Minister asked that the report focus particularly on alternatives to the more formal criminal and civil court processes that could respond in a responsible and fair way to abuses that occurred in government-run or government-funded or sponsored institutions in the past. Experience to date has shown that criminal and civil litigation, which is by nature adversarial, can sometimes be less than ideal in meeting the needs of survivors and dealing adequately with the complex nature and impact of such abuse.
The Minister received the Commission's report on March 13, 2000. The report examines the needs of those who suffered abuse as children in institutions, including residential schools, assesses a number of possible approaches to providing redress and makes several recommendations aimed at public education and prevention of future occurrences of children in out-of-home care.
The Government of Canada is expected to respond to the LCC's report by the end of the year.

The Minister's request to the Law Commission of Canada for a report that focuses on sensitive alternative ways to respond to the legacy of sexual and physical abuse in government-sanctioned institutions, reflects the seriousness with which the federal government is approaching this complex issue. Equally important is society's responsibility to protect children from becoming victims.
Today, the Government of Canada is working with governments at all levels, as well as through partnerships with communities, families and voluntary organizations who work with and care about children, to maintain effective measures to protect children from abuse. The Government of Canada reiterated its commitment to children in both the 1999 Speech from the Throne and in the federal budget announced in February 2000. Initiatives include working with provinces and territories on the National Children's Agenda, as well as a national action plan on early childhood development.
Much of the progress made by the Government on children's issues directly or indirectly responds to recommendations made by the Law Commission of Canada in its report on institutional child abuse. Relevant initiatives are outlined below:

In January 1998, the Government of Canada offered a Statement of Reconciliation that expressed profound regret to the Aboriginal community for its past mistakes and acknowledged the role it played in the development and administration of the residential school system. To those who suffered the tragedy of physical and sexual abuse while attending residential schools, the federal government said it was deeply sorry.
The Government of Canada's approach to abuse claims arising from residential schools is consistent with many of the recommendations made by the Law Commission of Canada. To date, 5,800 individual claims for compensation have been made.
The court system will always be needed for certain conflicts, but when disputing parties can be brought together to resolve their differences without being pitted against each other in an adversarial court system, the outcome is almost always better. In 1999, the Department of Justice and the Department of Indian and Northern Development (DIAND), held a series of nine exploratory dialogues with survivors of residential school abuse, Aboriginal leaders and healers, and the churches. The dialogues reflected principles of respect and engagement of those affected by residential school abuse, and helped to open lines of communication, to assist the Government in understanding the needs of survivors and their communities, and to develop a number of options for addressing those needs.
As a direct result of the dialogues, the Government of Canada has established a series of dispute resolution pilot projects in which alternatives to litigation are being developed in cooperation with the survivors who will use them to resolve their claims. Each pilot project is being negotiated directly with a specific group of survivors according to their needs and priorities. The aim of the projects is to find ways to resolve abuse claims that produce healing, provide closure to participants, and support a new relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Government. Depending on the group of survivors involved, the pilot projects may include an emphasis on community healing initiatives, remedies aimed specifically at acknowledging and repairing to the extent possible the harm done to survivors, as well as counselling and support for survivors.
Aboriginal Healing Foundation. The Government of Canada's commitment toward the healing of survivors is reflected in the commitment of $350 million to create the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. The approaches outlined for the Foundation focus on survivors of physical and sexual abuse, and ensure that support goes to initiatives that involve and are endorsed by communities.

The LCC report makes a number of recommendations aimed at making the criminal justice process more transparent and responsive to victims.
The Minister of Justice has made responding to the needs of victims a priority, and recently announced that the Government will provide $20 million over the next four years for federal victim-related initiatives and services. A Policy Centre for Victims of Crime has recently been established in the Department of Justice to ensure that the perspective of victims is incorporated in all federal criminal justice policies and programs. The Centre is in the process of developing a variety of information tools for victims and establishing a network of service providers and victims' advocates to ensure an exchange of information and best practices, among other initiatives.
Direct services to victims are a provincial responsibility. However, recent amendments to the Criminal Code introduced by the Government of Canada permit victim fines or surcharges to be automatically imposed on offenders. These funds are used by the provinces to support services to victims.
Other amendments to the Code, introduced by the Government as part of its Victims' Strategy, ensure victims are informed about opportunities to prepare a victim impact statement and require police and judges to consider the safety of victims in all bail decisions.
Responding to the Needs of Witnesses. The LCC report recommends a number of measures that it believes would help to reduce the risk of re-victimizing victims when they testify before a court.
The Department of Justice has already launched a child victim initiative that directly addresses the issue of protecting children as witnesses. A Departmental consultation paper, released in November 1999, explores a number of options that would help to protect child witnesses.
The protection of victims and witnesses during criminal trials and the prevention, where possible, of repetitive examinations and abusive cross-examination have been major objectives of all three phases of the Government's Criminal Procedure Reform Initiative, the Government's Victims' Strategy and other criminal law reform efforts. Current Criminal Code provisions, for example, allow publication bans on the identity of victims and witnesses in sexual offence cases and permit a support person to be present for witnesses under the age of 18 in sexual or violent offence cases. The rights of a self-represented accused to cross-examine a victim is also restricted in sexual offence cases.
Preventing Child Victimization. The prevention of child victimization is a strong element of the Department of Justice's child victim initiative and Youth Justice Renewal Strategy. The Department of Justice is currently working with the provinces, territories and professionals who work with children to support early detection, investigation and prevention of harm to children. A major symposium on children as victims, held in Ottawa in September 1999, brought together representatives from a broad selection of disciplines and sectors to examine improvements to a number of systems, including justice, mental health, social services and arts and recreation, aimed to identify and assist children at risk.

The National Children's Agenda reflects the commitment of the Government of Canada and provincial and territorial governments to work together to ensure the health and well-being of Canada's children.
A central component of the National Children's Agenda is the focus on early childhood development -- a firm belief that a healthy start in the first years of childhood is a strong foundation for a better life. This was the underlying principle in the National Children's Agenda May 1999 Report, Developing a Shared Vision, released by the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Council on Social Policy Renewal, and in the report, Investing in Early Childhood Development: The Health Sector Contribution, endorsed by Federal, Provincial and Territorial Health Ministers in September 1999.
The February 2000 federal budget demonstrates the Government of Canada's commitment to children and, in particular, to the importance of early childhood development. The Government of Canada, through initiatives led by Health Canada, carries out a number of child-centred community programs, including:
The Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program (CPNP). The Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program (CNCP) is a comprehensive community-based program that supports pregnant women facing conditions that threaten the health and development of their babies. Last year, the Government of Canada invested an additional $75 million over three years to expand the CNCP, bringing the total annual budget to $22.4 million in 1999-2000.
The CNCP provides the resources for community-based groups to offer practical support such as food supplements, nutrition counselling, social support, education and referrals on lifestyle issues. The CNCP aims to reduce disparities in health by improving accessibility of services, enhancing inter-sectoral collaboration and increasing the potential for women to have healthy babies. The program will reach 20,000 people across Canada to address Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects and to enhance the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System (see below). Currently, there are 277 CPNP projects across Canada and 400 CPNP projects in Inuit and on-reserve First Nations communities.
The Community Action Program for Children (CAPC). This program provides long-term funding to community groups to establish and deliver services that respond to the developmental needs of children up to six years old, living in high-risk conditions. CAPC focuses on prevention and early intervention to help these children get a better start in life. The program serves children living in low income and teenage-parent families; children experiencing developmental delays, social, emotional or behavioral problems and abused and neglected children.
CAPC contributes $52.9 million annually to communities across Canada. There are 452 CAPC projects in both urban and rural areas in every province and territory. Each week, more than 70,000 parents and children participate in a CAPC project.
Aboriginal Head Start (AHS). Aboriginal Head Start (AHS) is an early intervention program for First Nations, Inuit and Métis preschool children and their families living in urban centres, northern communities and on First Nations reserves. AHS projects typically provide half-day preschool experiences that prepare young children for their school years by meeting their spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical needs. Components include culture, language, education, health, promotion, nutrition, social support and parental involvement. Projects are run by locally managed Aboriginal organizations that directly involve parents. AHS's annual budget is $47.5 million. Last year, more than 3,200 children were enrolled in 97 AHS projects in urban and northern communities across Canada.
Monitoring children's health and safety. The Government of Canada, through Health Canada, is working with governments at all levels, as well as through partnerships with communities, families and voluntary organizations who work with and care about children, to maintain effective measures to protect children from serious injury and death.
Health Canada is supporting development of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect. The child maltreatment surveillance activities will be undertaken collaboratively with a wide range of partners, including federal departments and agencies, provincial and territorial governments, health professionals, child welfare agencies and advocates and academic and non-governmental organizations. The project is intended to develop national estimates of the incidence of abuse and neglect, increase understanding of the types and severity of child maltreatment, establish baseline data to guide development of policies and programs for children and youth at risk of maltreatment and collect evidence to better plan the allocation of resources to address this issue.
Other surveillance activities that contribute to improved information about child abuse include: the Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System, which provides data collection and analysis on pregnant women, mothers and babies in Canada, and the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP), which collects and analyzes data on injuries and poisonings from 16 hospitals across Canada.