Liberals come under pressure to create children’s commissioner as promised
OTTAWA — The Liberals are facing calls to follow through on a campaign pledge to create a federal children’s commissioner who would be a non-partisan voice to ensure government policy actually improves the lives of young people.
More than a year into their mandate, the government has shown few signs of moving forward on the promise, other than to say it continues to study the idea.
Sara Austin, founder of the charity Children First Canada, says there is well over a decade of studies and research from other jurisdictions and the Liberals don’t need to start from scratch. She says it’s time for the government to act on the promise it made to help the approximately 1.25 million children who live in poverty in Canada.
“We need to go beyond simply saying that they matter and saying that kids are important to delivering tangible programs that will drive change,” Austin said in an interview.