Kitchener, Ontario, Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Thank you for being here and for this invitation to speak today. My wife, Sharon, and I are delighted to join you for this important discussion.

It is difficult to imagine a subject more worthy of our collective attention than the well-being of children.

And, as the members and supporters of UNICEF well know, the well-being of children is also an important indicator of the overall success of our society.

That is why I am so pleased to see the establishment of the Observatory for Canada’s Children during this, the 25th anniversary year of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

This forum has great potential to inspire new ideas and strategies in support of children.

The goal is ambitious: to ensure the health, happiness and development of children is a national priority. To achieve this outcome, the Observatory will work with national and international partners to study and measure child well-being, and to promote the best possible childhood for every child in Canada.     

These steps are critical to understanding and improving the situation. Canada has achieved some notable successes in child well-being and development, but there is also much room for improvement. According to UNICEF’s international report card, Canada ranks 17th of 29 affluent nations when measuring indicators that include children’s material well-being, health and safety, education, behaviours and risks, and housing and environment.

Simply put, average is not good enough, particularly when we have the means to do so much better. We can, and must do better.

I would like to thank you all once again for being here today. I am pleased to see such a diverse crowd of people gathered to tackle this important challenge, because success will depend on ideas and contributions from all sectors of society.

We look forward to the discussion and to seeing the results of this important initiative. We wish you great success.

Thank you.