Symposium on Children of the Recession

This blog highlights the proceedings of a national symposium on Children of the Recession organized by UNICEF Canada in partnership with the University of Ottawa. The purpose of the symposium was to enable discussion of the most serious economic crisis that the world has faced since the Great Depression of the 1930s. There have been countless commentaries and reports exploring its economic impact. Children of the Recession, by contrast, focused on the most vulnerable members of the population. Children typically are neglected in most public policy conversations and certainly have been overlooked both during and after this tough economic period. The impact of the Great Recession upon children and families in the developed world has been hard and long-lasting – albeit far more difficult in some nations than in others. Youth, in particular, were disproportionately affected by the economic trough of the past few years. The symposium made clear that Canada needs to think in terms of a strategy that involves an integrated and linked set of policy measures and actions. These include: educational and training investments, progressive labour market policies and decent employment, support for early childhood development and child care, and higher benefits for low- and modest-income families with children. All governments must pay special attention to the well-being of Aboriginal children.

ISBN – 1-55382-635-3