National Strategy for Children and Youth Act

Bill S-212 requires the federal government to create a national strategy focused on the well-being of children and youth in Canada. It directs a designated federal minister to develop this strategy with specific goals, including eliminating child poverty, ensuring equitable access to mental health supports, maintaining a high standard of living for young people, and bringing Canada into full compliance with international commitments such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The strategy must also set measurable targets, include an evidence-based way to track progress, and outline a concrete plan for addressing gaps, along with the resources needed to do so.

The bill sets out a detailed consultation process. The minister must consult children and youth themselves, other relevant federal ministers, provincial and municipal representatives, Indigenous governing bodies and organizations, advocacy groups, and any other appropriate parties. These consultations must be conducted in culturally safe ways that reflect participants' languages and cultures, and must ensure that the children and youth involved reflect the diversity of experiences across the country. In developing the strategy, the minister must also take into account Canada's human rights obligations, Jordan's Principle, the Inuit Child First Initiative, recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and existing commitments on child care.

The bill establishes a timeline for accountability: progress reports must be tabled in Parliament every six months until the full strategy is presented, which must happen within two years of the law taking effect. The strategy must then be published online shortly after being tabled. Every five years after that, the minister must review how well the strategy is being implemented, assess whether its goals have been met, and report the results to Parliament, again following further consultation with the same groups involved in developing the original strategy.

This bill requires a federal minister to develop, table, and periodically review a national strategy for children and youth in Canada, and designates who that minister will be.

• Who holds the power — the Governor in Council (Cabinet) designates any federal minister to be the "Minister" responsible for the strategy; the bill does not name a specific ministry.
• Content set by the Minister — the Minister decides the specific objectives, outcomes, indicators, and detailed plans within the strategy, subject to required topics listed in the Act (e.g., child poverty, mental health access, compliance with named international conventions), but the actual substance and targets are left to the Minister's discretion rather than fixed in the bill.
• Consultation requirements — the Minister must consult children and youth, other ministers, provincial/municipal representatives, Indigenous governing bodies, and stakeholders, but the Act does not specify how disagreements or lack of consent are to be resolved, particularly regarding Indigenous free, prior and informed consent referenced only in the preamble.
• Reporting obligations — progress reports every six months until the strategy is tabled (within 24 months of royal assent), then review reports every five years, all tabled in Parliament; no penalty is stated for missing these deadlines.
• Mechanisms proposed, not created — the strategy may "propose mechanisms" for public monitoring, complaint consideration, and parliamentary oversight, but the Act itself does not establish these mechanisms, complaint bodies, or enforcement powers — it only requires that such mechanisms be proposed within the strategy document.
• No penalties or enforcement powers — the Act creates no offence provisions, fines, or compliance powers; its obligations run only to the Minister's duties to develop, consult, table, and report.