The Canadian Bar Association Child Rights Toolkit

Published on 30 June 2017 The CBA Child Rights Toolkit is for professionals working in legal and administrative decision-making who want to better understand and implement a child rights based approach in practice and strengthen their advocacy for children.

All children have the right to equal benefit and protection of the law, without discrimination, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter), other Canadian laws and international human rights treaties. These are important fundamental rights.

Special considerations apply to children. They are generally unable to know their rights, access remedies or have their voices heard unless the adults around them help. Frequently children’s best interests are overlooked or conflict with those of adults generally, or those meant to help them specifically. This is especially true for vulnerable children, including Indigenous children who often experience discrimination, poverty and the legacies of colonialism and residential schools.