As part of this work, we reached out to the Canadian child and youth law, research and advocacy community for ideas of how we could continue to evolve the Toolkit as an essential practice tool for children's rights advocacy. We were told that we should make the Toolkit an interdisciplinary and rights-based resource for lawyers, educators, advocates, service providers, policymakers, youth, and community organizations. Contributors consistently emphasized stronger implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (the Convention), improved accessibility, updated legal resources, and attention to emerging issues affecting children.
A major recommendation from contributors was that the Toolkit substantially modernize its treatment of technology. Using the Convention as a lens, the updated Toolkit will better address children’s privacy rights, online safety, algorithmic harms, artificial intelligence, AI companions, non-consensual intimate imagery, online exploitation, disinformation, digital participation rights, and freedom of expression. The Toolkit will also seek to explore tensions between protection and participation rights and emphasize that children are rights holders rather than merely service recipients.
- Indigenous children’s rights, Jordan’s Principle, and implementation of An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families.
- Disability rights and neurodivergence, including explicit treatment of Article 23 of the Convention.
- Recognition of systemic racism affecting Black children and the inclusion of material addressing slavery, segregation, over-incarceration, and child welfare inequities.
- Improved treatment of migrant, refugee, trafficked, 2SLGBTQ+, disabled, and other marginalized children.
- Plain-language drafting and visual design, updated resources and references, and improved navigation.
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