Executive Summary:
This brief from First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, a provincial coalition of 95 partner organizations, calls upon the House of Commons to make sure the 2015 federal budget contributes to progress in securing a strong commitment to early childhood development, support in transitions from childhood to youth to adulthood, increased economic equality, and safe and caring communities for all of Canada's children.
We recommend all budget measures be assessed for their impacts on children and youth, and especially for impacts on members of particularly vulnerable groups such as Aboriginal children, children with disabilities, recent immigrant children and children in female-led lone-parent families, in order to ensure that we do no harm.
First Call's recommendations touch on four key areas for action that we believe should be reflected in the next federal budget priorities:
- Improving supports for young families and their children
- Reducing income inequality and health inequalities in Canada
- Better supports for Canadian youth
- Reducing exposures to environmental toxins