Brief Regarding Bill S-212
Can different governments, political parties, and youth, all with their own independent agendas, truly collaborate on a unified strategy? As Mary Parker Follet wrote, “Unity, not uniformity, must be our aim. We attain unity only through variety. Differences must be integrated, not annihilated, not absorbed.” The Civic Clarity Foundation is not here to debate this principle; we are here as witnesses to its successful application.
On August 29th , 2025, the Civic Clarity Foundation held our panel, in the Waterloo region, on Youth Mental Health & The Role of Good Governance. What we achieved was a rare, cross-partisan consensus on a path forward for youth well-being, proving that the collaborative framework proposed in Bill S-212 is not only possible but essential. Based on the evidence detailed in our official after-report from our panel, the Civic Clarity Foundation strongly supports the passage of Bill S-212 and submits the following key recommendations to ensure the resulting national strategy is effective, accountable, and addresses the root causes of the youth well-being crisis:
Recommendations for the National Strategy:
1. To Ensure Genuine Accountability: Establish permanent, resourced Youth Advisory Committees as a core mechanism for the ongoing consultation and oversight mandated by Bill S212.
2. To Address Root Causes: Mandate a proactive “Youth Well-Being Perspective” across all major federal policy, particularly in housing, post-secondary education, and employment, to fulfill the Bill’s objective of ensuring a high standard of living.
3. To Guarantee Independent Oversight: Establish an independent, nonpartisan National Commissioner for Children and Youth, reporting to Parliament, as the core mechanism for ensuring the strategy’s long-term success and accountability across successive governments.
A. Background: The Panel on Youth Mental Health & The Role of Good Governance — A Successful Consensus
The youth mental health crisis in Canada is a pressing issue that demands immediate attention. It was in direct response to this crisis and the partisan gridlock often preventing meaningful action that the Civic Clarity Foundation convened the panel on youth mental health & the role of good governance in the Waterloo region, Ontario. The premise was to test whether a youth-led, multi-jurisdictional, and cross-partisan dialogue could successfully fashion a common will.
The foundation’s panel on August 29th, 2025, brought together an unprecedented slate of sitting politicians and youth representatives:
▪ Federal Representation: Conservative Members of Parliament MP Matt Strauss and MP Kelly DeRidder, and former Liberal Minister of Diversity, Inclusion, and Youth, MP Bardish Chagger.
▪ Provincial Representation: Green Member of the Ontario Legislature, MPP Aislinn Clancy.
▪ Municipal Representation: Regional Councillor for the Region of Waterloo, representing Kitchener residents, Councillor Colleen James.
▪ Youth Representation: Student Trustee for the Waterloo Region District School Board, Kinjal Kaur.
The panel, which garnered media attention including an interview on CBC, was a resounding success. Despite diverse viewpoints, the two-hour proceeding resulted in a powerful consensus that the “status quo” on youth well-being requires a fundamental systemic shift.
Our official word-by-word transcript and our official after-report detail the powerful consensus this panel achieved. The findings from this panel form the basis for the recommendations that follow.
B. Recommendations for the National Strategy:
A Blueprint for Action Our panel achieved a powerful, cross-partisan consensus, but it served as the foundation for a clear blueprint for action. We therefore submit the following recommendations, grounded in the direct evidence from our panel, as specific proposals to be incorporated into Bill S-212 to ensure its success.
1. To Ensure Genuine Accountability
The current system of youth consultation is often temporary, tokenized, and performative. To be effective, the mechanisms for “ongoing consultation and oversight” mandated by Bill S-212 require a permanent structure that empowers youth consultation. As written, the bill’s language is permissive, requiring only that the strategy propose mechanisms that ‘if implemented’ would allow for continued consultation. As the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates has also noted, this makes continued consultation optional rather than mandatory.
The call for “genuine accountability” was a foundational theme of our panel and is one of the key principles of the Civic Clarity Foundation as a whole. It was agreed that accountability is not merely about fulfilling promises but about creating permanent spaces for youth voices at the table where decisions are being made. As former Minister of Diversity, Inclusion, and Youth, Bardish Chagger, stated at our panel: “We need to be creating the space to have those young people at the table. We need to be hearing, making those decisions on their behalf, and then being okay with perhaps not getting it right.”
2. To Address Root Causes
A critical flaw in our current approach to youth well-being is its disproportionate focus on reactive “mental health care” while neglecting the holistic, root causes of “mental health.” The unanimous consensus of our cross-partisan panel was that a strategy focused only on healthcare is a failing one. The discussion consistently returned to the need for a preventative approach that addresses systemic issues such as housing, unemployment, and the loss of social connection.
As a core requirement to fulfill the bill’s objectives of ensuring a “high and consistent standard of living” as mandated by Section 4(2)(a)(ii), the National Strategy must include a proactive “Youth Well-Being Perspective” to be applied across all major federal policy, particularly in housing, post-secondary education, and employment.
3. To Guarantee Independent Oversight
Bill S-212 creates a powerful framework, but its long-term success depends on a credible oversight mechanism. The bill’s current structure presents two significant challenges. First, section 3 allows “any federal minister” to be designated, risking a lack of consistent focus as the responsibility could shift between ministries in successive governments. Second, Section 7 tasks this same minister with preparing the five-year report on the strategy’s success, creating a conflict where the government must grade their own work. For this critical review process to have maximum public trust and credibility, it must be driven by an independent, non-partisan body.
The concept of an independent, national commissioner for children and youth is not a new one in Canadian policy discussions, having been debated for over a decade. The most effective and well researched solution to both these challenges has already been developed and tabled in a previous session of Parliament by the Honourable Senator Moodie. We support the principle of a designated minister as a vital champion within government, but our findings on the need for “genuine accountability” align with the logic of establishing an independent, nonpartisan National Commissioner for Children and Youth as the ultimate authority on oversight.
An independent Officer of Parliament, modeled on the successful Parliamentary Budget Officer, would not replace the Minister but would rather empower the entire strategy outlined in Bill S-212. The specific mandates envisioned for the Commissioner in Bill S-210 during the second session of the forty-third parliamentary session are the perfect tools for action with Bill S-212:
▪ To Fulfill Section 4(2)(f) (Consultation & Oversight): The Commissioner, as envisioned in S-210’s mandate to “consult with children and youth” (Sec 11(1)(I)), would serve as the permanent, stable institution responsible for engaging with the Youth Advisory Committees we have proposed earlier. This ensures the minister receives consistent, high-quality youth voices on the ground and in our schools.
▪ To Fulfill Section 4(2)(a)(ii) (High Standard of Living): The Commissioner, fulfilling the S210 mandate to “monitor… government policies and practices” (Sec 11(1)(d)), would be the ideal authority to audit the government-wide application of the “Youth Well-Being Perspective” we have recommended earlier. This provides the “evidence-based assessment” required by S-212.
▪ To Fulfill Section 7 (Review and Report): Most importantly, assigning the Commissioner to prepare the five-year review for Parliament resolves the conflict in S-212 that arises from requiring the government to evaluate its own performance. This would guarantee a credible, nonpartisan, and trustworthy report on the strategy’s progress, satisfying the bill’s goal of “parliamentary oversight.
This model is not only a sound solution for Canada, but also an internationally recognized best practice. Countries with the most successful and long-standing commissioner offices, such as Norway, New Zealand, and Sweden, all demonstrate a link between an independent commissioner and measurable, systemic improvements in youth and child well-being. New Zealand’s Commissioner, for example, successfully led a campaign that resulted in the cross-party Child Poverty Reduction Act. Canada remains one of the few wealthy nations without this proven mechanism for accountability and oversight, despite repeated recommendations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
As the key to fulfilling the oversight, consultation, and reporting mandates within Bill S-212, the National Strategy must include the establishment of an independent, nonpartisan National Commissioner for Children and Youth. This officer, reporting directly to Parliament and operating with a mandate modeled on the framework proposed in Bill S-210, is the essential component in ensuring the long-term success and credibility of the National Strategy and its reports.
C. Conclusion
The framework proposed in Bill S-212 is an essential and long-overdue step forward for Canada’s children and youth. Our evidence confirms that its collaborative premise is not only possible but is the only path to success. However, for a strategy to be truly effective across generations and have meaningful impact, its legislative foundation must be as strong as its ambition.
The recommendations submitted in this brief, the establishment of permanent Youth Advisory Committees, the application of a “Youth Well-Being Perspective” across federal policy, and the creation of an Independent National Commissioner are not add-ons; they are the essential mechanisms that will give the National Strategy its credibility, its focus on root causes, and its long-term accountability. These recommendations transform the bill from a promise into a plan.
These proposals are grounded in the direct, cross-partisan consensus of our panel, aligned with the legislative vision of members of this Committee, and validated by successful international best practice.
The Civic Clarity Foundation strongly urges the Committee to pass Bill S-212 and to strengthen it by incorporating these evidence-based mechanisms for accountability and oversight. We stand ready to be an active partner in this vital work.
We thank the Chair of the Committee, the Honourable Senator Moodie, and the Committee for its time and consideration. I would welcome the opportunity to appear before the Committee to further discuss the recommendations in this brief.
Sincerely,
Rehan Mazid
Executive Director
Civic Clarity Foundation
