Excerpt from Introduction:
In December 1997, Canada's First Ministers asked the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Council of Ministers on Social Policy Renewal to engage the public in developing a shared vision for enhancing the well-being of Canada's children.
The Council recognized that an agenda for children requires a shared vision and a common understanding of children's changing circumstances and needs, both as children and as future adults. In collaboration with Canada's five national Aboriginal organizations, the Council published a document entitled "A National Children's Agenda: Developing a shared vision." This document invited people to discuss common values and goals for children, and to consider a vision that reflects our beliefs about children and our commitment to their well-being. In addition, the document included an aboriginal perspective on children's issues, as well as background material and appendices on what we know about children and on some child initiatives across Canada.
In May 1999, governments launched a dialogue with citizens across the country to gather comments and ideas about the draft vision, as set out in the two dialogue documents. This is in keeping with the Social Union Framework Agreement, which calls upon governments to provide opportunities for Canadians to participate in developing social priorities.
This report provides an overview of the comments and ideas provided by organizations and citizens&emdash;including children and youth&emdash;from across Canada. The amended vision, values and goals at the core of the Agenda are also included. These amended statements reflect important suggestions offered during the dialogue process.