“The majority of teachers…71 per cent claim that they have acted to prevent bullying. Only a quarter of our students feel like they’re supported within the school setting. So really, we’re seeing a significant number of our kids experiencing bullying and feeling like they don’t have the support that they need to address that issue within their school setting, and that is just one of many really alarming statistics that comes out in this report.”

Today, 1 in 5 kids aged 12 to 17 report symptoms of some kind of mental disorder, most commonly lining up with things like anxiety, depression, and ADHD in particular. There’s also the issue of racism in schools, with 14 per cent of students saying they have experienced race-based bullying, while 58 per cent report having witnessed it themselves.

“I think at a very personal level, change begins at home in how parents, grandparents engage with our kids and provide the supports that they need, but also have really open and clear conversations with our kids about the struggles they face and the supports that they need to thrive.”

At the end of 2024, about 1.4 million children in Canada, or about 13.4 per cent were living in poverty, which is the highest amount the country has seen since 2017. This is one of the areas where Austin wants to see different levels of government step up the most.

“We need to see funding going to ensure that our kids have those safe and healthy childhood things like the new national school food program. We need the province of Saskatchewan working actively with the federal government, and with schools, to ensure that as kids head back to school this week that they have the nutritious meals that they need for breakfast and lunch. To be nourished, to be well in school, to have funding, going towards issues like mental health to address the urgent needs around access to care, but also, even more importantly, to go upstream to address the root causes of youth mental health.”

This year, Canada dropped from 66th down to 67th on the global Kids Rights Index out of 194 countries.
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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com