Children First Canada has a bold and ambitious vision that together we can make Canada the best place in the world for kids to grow up—a place where every child achieves their full potential.
As a Calgary based charity, we are propelled by the urgent need to change children’s lives for the better. We are empowering, inspiring, and engaging 8 million children and providing youth with a platform to create ground-breaking and innovative solutions to effect change at a local and national level.
Children First Canada’s mandate includes:
• Educating, engaging and empowering children and youth
• Measuring what matters in the lives of young Canadians
• Building greater awareness about the urgent needs of kids and how to help
• Developing innovative and evidence based solutions
• Mobilizing action to measurably improve children’s lives.
There have been many milestones to date, with more to come with your generous support.
Check out some of Children First Canada’s accomplishments:
• Youth Advisory Council: CFC’s youth advisors play a leadership role in all programs and campaigns and in the governance of the organization at the Board of Directors. Youth advisors raise their voices and drive real change, including testifying to Parliament and as spokespeople for high profile media campaigns.
• Canadian Children’s Charter: CFC engaged thousands of children from coast to coast to coast in creating a plan by children, for children, to make Canada the best place in the world for kids to grow up. It is an urgent call to action to respect, protect and fulfill their rights, endorsed by the Prime Minister and leaders from the private sector and civil society.
• Raising Canada: CFC’s annual research report on the top 10 threats to childhood is Canada’s go-to source for the latest data and recommendations to improve the lives of 8 million kids. The results are shared through a high-profile event and campaign that reaches 25 million – 100 million viewers!
• Young Canadians’ Parliament: this ground-breaking program educates children about their rights and responsibilities as citizens, empowers them with knowledge and leadership skills for civic engagement, and provides them with access and influence at the highest levels of government. It has resulted in legislative changes and action on mental health, climate change, food security, combatting racism, protecting children from violence and much more.
• National Child Day: this annual event raises awareness about the rights of children and mobilizes action to improve the lives of kids, most recently engaging more than 20,000 students across Canada in November 2022!
• Public Awareness Campaigns: CFC engages Canadians on the issues that matter most to kids with campaigns reaching 200+ million people! Most recently, CFC and children’s hospitals declared #codePINK (a term used for pediatric emergencies) calling for urgent action to address the devastating effects COVID-19 on children’s mental and physical health.
• Global Justice for Kids: CFC drew global attention when Greta Thunberg and 16 of her peers filed a complaint to the United Nations protesting lack of government action on the climate crisis. In the landmark case, Greta and her peers alleged that the governments of Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina and Turkey had violated children’s rights by not taking necessary action to address the climate crisis. Their actions were made possible because of an international law that was the brainchild of CFC’s founder and CEO who led the global campaign to bring it into force. The law allows children to seek remedies for violations of their rights to education, healthy food, good healthcare and all the things kids need to survive and thrive