Presentation to the 11th annual Health and Human Rights Conference, University of Toronto, January 17, 2009 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948. It is the foundation of all modern international human rights law. It enshrined a set of basic concepts and stated emphatically that “motherhood and childhood are entitled to special […]
. . December 10, 2008 Hon. Lawrence Cannon Minister of Foreign Affairs House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 Dear Minister, We are writing on behalf of the children of Zimbabwe who are screaming for help. As you know, Zimbabwe’s economy is in crisis, there are extreme food shortages and the recent outbreak of cholera […]
On December 1, 2008, DCI-Canada appeared before the Ontario Legislature, Standing Committee on Social Policy to comment on proposed legislation that will unify the youth justice system in Ontario. Bill 103, Child and Family Services Statute Law Amendment Act, 2008 was introduced in the Ontario Legislature on September 29, 2008. Our submission recommends six amendments […]
TORONTO, March 3, 2008—DCI-Canada today released its position paper on Bill C-25, An Act to Amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Bill C-25 was introduced in the House of Commons on November 19, 2007 by the Honourable Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. Bill C-25 passed second reading on February 4, […]
. . December 10, 2008 President Robert G. Mugabe Office of the President Munhumutapa Building Samora Machel Avenue Box 7700 Causeway Harare, Zimbabwe Fax: 011 263 4 734 644 Dear President, We are writing to express our great concern over the desperate conditions that have developed in Zimbabwe. Defence for Children International-Canada has close ties […]
. . July 18, 2008 The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P. Prime Minister of Canada House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K18 0A2 Dear Prime Minister: Defence for Children International (DCI) is a non-governmental organisation that has been active in the field of children’s rights for over 25 years. We are contacting you today to […]
TORONTO, August 17, 2007—The Honourable Stephen Goudge, Commissioner of the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario, granted standing to Defence for Children International-Canada (DCI-Canada) in his ruling on standing and funding today. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this public inquiry,” stated Les Horne, Executive Director of DCI-Canada. “Our child […]
TORONTO, April 23, 2006—Romeo Dallaire will deliver Defence for Children International’s Lowery Lecture in Toronto on Thursday, May 18. In it he will make a passionate call for all Canadians to face their failures in places like Rwanda and other countries where hundreds of thousands of children – some as young as eight years old […]
TORONTO, May 19, 2005—Children are the only people other than prisoners whose rights are denied by legislation, says Michael Enright, host of CBC’s Sunday Edition. Society is able to limit youth freedoms so drastically because the media paints a contradictory and simplistic picture of youth. “They are either angels or villains: we are very poor […]
Toronto, May 25, 2004—In Canada, the methods and rhetoric of child protection, even the words we use to describe childhood, conceal discriminatory attitudes that harm children, according to Toronto lawyer Jeffery Wilson. Speaking on “The Language of Childhood, the Politics of Repression,” Wilson will challenge our language and assumptions at DCI-Canada’s fifth annual Lowery Lecture […]