Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2025, publiée 114ème session CIT (2026)

Convention (n° 182) sur les pires formes de travail des enfants, 1999 - Canada (Ratification: 2000)

Article 7(2) of the Convention. Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (d). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour and identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Indigenous children. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information, in its report, regarding the measures it continues to take to protect indigenous children from the worst forms of child labour, particularly human trafficking and sexual exploitation. For instance, Public Safety Canada continued implementing a five-year national awareness campaign to educate the public on misperceptions surrounding human trafficking, adapting outreach to Indigenous youth and communities to improve prevention and reporting. Federal funding has also supported initiatives such as: (1) the Strong Woman’s Project in Manitoba (2021–23), led by Ka Ni Kanichihk Inc., an indigenous-led organization, offered counselling, mentorship, housing, and life-skills training to Indigenous girls and youth at risk of exploitation; (2) services, provided by the Envision Counselling and Support Centre, for Indigenous victims and survivors of sexual exploitation living in rural and isolated communities in Saskatchewan; (3) the development and implementation, by the Native Court Worker and Counselling Association of British Columbia, of Indigenous-led and culturally-rooted anti-human trafficking approaches, practices and materials to advance knowledge for at-risk Indigenous populations, and victims and survivors of human trafficking; and (4) the funding, by Pathways to Safe Indigenous Communities initiative, of projects that address the safety and well-being needs of Indigenous communities, including projects to help address human trafficking. At the provincial level, recent measures include the ongoing implementation of the Indigenous Academic Achievement Grant in Manitoba, which requires school divisions to set measurable literacy and numeracy targets for Indigenous students. In Ontario, a new healing and treatment programme for Indigenous child victims of sexual exploitation due to sex trafficking, delivered by Dilico Anishinabek Family Care, was set to launch in 2024–25.

The Committee notes, however, that the Government does not provide up-to-date statistics on school attendance, enrolment and drop-out rates of indigenous children across Canada. In addition, the federal statistics provided concern only young persons above the age of 15 (which show very low attendance rates by persons with indigenous identity, ranging from 13.5 to 19.7 per cent). The Committee observes that, in its 2024 concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW/C/CAN/CO/10), expressed its concern about the gap in education levels between indigenous peoples and non-indigenous peoples; cuts to First Nations educational institutes that have crippled indigenous language immersion programmes for primary students; and the insufficient progress in substantially increasing post-secondary education access for indigenous women and girls, and boosting enrolment rates and preventing student drop-outs. The Committee therefore strongly encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to ensure that children from indigenous communities are not exposed to the worst forms of child labour, particularly through ensuring equal access to free, basic and quality education to these children, increasing their school enrolment rates and reducing their school drop-out rates. The Committee urges the Government to take measures to ensure that statistics in this regard are made available in all provinces and territories, including in relation to children below the age of 15.

The Committee is dealing with another matter in a request addressed directly to the Government.