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By Dawson Thompson

Children Mental Health

New report reveals widespread children’s rights violations during pandemic

Sep 1, 2021 | 1:00 PM

Every year people’s mental health becomes more important increasing the amount of supports online, in the community, and in schools.

While the conversation about mental health is growing, and as more and more people utilize supports around them, it is important to keep the mental health of children in mind while having these conversations, because many times they can not make choices for themselves.

An annual report called ‘Raising Canada 2021’ from Children First Canada shows that many policy makers across the country have not done enough for children, and have even ‘violated children’s rights.’

The report confirms that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and amplified the top 10 threats to childhood in Canada. ‘Kids are in crisis and have experienced widespread violations of their human rights.’

Key findings of the report include:

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• Suicide remains the leading cause of death for children and youth aged 10-19 (Statistics Canada). Several children’s hospitals saw significant spikes in admission for suicide attempts during the pandemic.
• There has been a 39 per cent increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in Canada during the pandemic (Canadian Public Policy Journal).
• Almost one in five children live in poverty (Campaign 2000).
• In some jurisdictions, clinicians have seen twice as many infants for maltreatment-related concerns, specifically fractures and head trauma (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario).
• Canada’s infant mortality rate has increased and is now the second highest among 17 OCED countries at approximately 4.4 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births (University of Toronto Medical Journal).
• In all regions of Canada, parents reported that children exhibited a decrease in time spent outdoors and in outdoor play (Canadian Journal of Public Health).

“Kids are really struggling to survive, let alone thrive,” Sara Austin, CEO and founder of Children First Canada told paNOW. “This report really is an alarm bell that has to be rung, calling for urgent action for the sake of children.”

In an attempt to offer every child mental health supports in Saskatchewan, the provincial government has recently increased their funding to Kids Help Phone to support student mental health.

The provincial government is providing $225,000 over the next three years to Kids Help Phone. This is an increase of $27,000 per year from what they previously contributed.

“They have provided a great service for students in Saskatchewan,” Dustin Duncan, education minister said. “Something that we have been focused on in the last couple of years has been trying to bring mental health first aid to every single school in the province.

“Mental health is becoming more of an issue that we need to focus on.”

Kids Help Phone is available in both English and French, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via phone, text, website and Facebook.

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Dawson.thompson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @dawsonthompson8