The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth (MACY), Sherry Gott, has released her office’s annual report, which summarizes the activities and initiatives undertaken during the 2021-22 fiscal year.

The annual report highlights important figures from the past year, including the number of children, youth, and young adults who accessed MACY’s programs, or joined the office’s initiatives and events. An independent, non-partisan office of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, the Manitoba Advocate office represents the rights, interests, and viewpoints of children, youth and young adults across the province.

The executive summary, available in English, French, Cree, Ojibwe, and Oji-Cree, highlights key statistics around advocacy services, cases, and supports, child death reviews and investigations, outreach initiatives and more!

Read the press release in English or French.

Read the 2021-2022 Annual Report and Service Plan in English or French.

In August, The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth (MACY) made a submission to the Standing Committee on Health to report on MACY’s recent child-centered research. The submission focused on youth suicide and infant mortality in Manitoba and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children’s health and access to support services in our province.

This submission is aligned with the principles of the UNCRC, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. This submission reinforces Article 21 of UNDRIP, which asserts Canada’s responsibility to improve the health of Indigenous children and Call to Action 19, which calls for the reduction in health gaps, including infant mortality, between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

Read the full statement here

In Manitoba, a child is exposed to a police-reported incident of intimate partner violence (IPV) every two hours. Exposure to IPV in childhood can be deeply traumatic for young people, shattering feelings of safety, leading to lifelong mental health challenges, and sometimes reinforcing cycles of intergenerational violence. 

This special report, the first of its kind, follows 671 Manitoba children and youth exposed to IPV in April 2019 in order to understand their pathways through service responses from police, Victim Services, and Child and Family Services. The report repositions children exposed to IPV as centrally-impacted victims with rights to services. Informed by the voices of experiential young people, the Elders Council, and service providers, the special report contains seven recommendations to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of services for children, youth, and families in Manitoba. 

(more…)