Partnership for the Reduction of Exploitation and Child Trauma
Amplifying Voices: Creating a Framework to Address System Gaps
PROTECT Canada is a national initiative designed to tackle the root causes of child sexual abuse and the systemic gaps that enable its persistence. Funded by the McConnell Foundation.
A national framework for safer systems.
Grounded in research, lived experience, trauma-informed practice, and reconciliation principles.
What is PROTECT Canada
"A movement toward a safer, more equitable Canada — one where no child falls through the cracks."
PROTECT Canada (Partnership for the Reduction of Exploitation and Child Trauma) is a national initiative designed to tackle the root causes of child sexual abuse and the systemic gaps that enable its persistence.
Current systems are fragmented, inconsistent, and reactive. Survivors face barriers in accessing care; professionals lack unified guidance; and prevention efforts are hindered by legal, technological, and jurisdictional inconsistencies.
PROTECT Canada aims to change this by producing a national, survivor-informed framework that addresses systemic barriers like judicial ambiguity, social media regulation gaps, insufficient survivor support pathways, and the misuse of non-disclosure agreements.
Why this matters
The Gaps are Real, PROTECT Canada is Closing Them
PROTECT Canada addresses fragmented child protection systems across Canada by connecting survivor experience, clinical knowledge, research, online safety expertise, and policy advocacy. The initiative helps partners identify shared gaps and build coordinated national responses for children, survivors, families, and frontline professionals.
These are not isolated failures — they are systemic. The initiative connects research, community experience, and clinical expertise to create a unified national response where one has been missing
Survivor barriers
Support pathways are uneven and difficult to navigate, especially across provinces and territories. Portability of services is limited.
Professional gaps
Frontline professionals lack unified guidance. Mandatory reporting requirements vary widely and are inconsistently enforced across jurisdictions.
Digital risk
AI-generated exploitation outpaces statutory frameworks. Platform accountability and cross-border data preservation remain fragmented.
Policy inconsistency
Legal systems vary widely across Canada. NDAs continue to silence survivors, and institutional accountability lacks harmonized standards.
6 Pillar Framework
A coordinated foundation for national reform.
PROTECT Canada's six-pillar framework organizes national child protection reform across judicial accountability, online safety, institutional coordination, survivor support, prevention, and trafficking response. The framework gives partners in Canada a shared structure for advocacy, implementation, policy development, and long-term system alignment.
These six pillars identify priority areas for coordinated policy reform, stronger accountability, and greater
national alignment. Together, they form the foundation for long-term, systemic change to better protect
children and support survivors.
Judicial Reform & Criminal Code Modernization
Strengthening legal recognition of coercive abuse, sentencing consistency, victim rights, and trauma-informed judicial processes.
Online Safety & Technology-Facilitated Exploitation
Addressing online coercion, sextortion, platform accountability, AI-generated abuse, and cross-border data preservation.
Institutional Accountability & Cross-Jurisdictional Coordination
Improving mandatory reporting, sector accountability in schools, sport and care systems, and limits on non-disclosure agreements.
Survivor Rights & System Stabilization
Improving consistency and accessibility of survivor supports, sustainable funding models, and continuity of care across jurisdictions.
Prevention & Early Intervention
Shifting toward upstream prevention with digital safety education, caregiver tools, and earlier identification of risk across systems.
Trafficking Response & Family Violence
Strengthening how systems identify, prevent, and respond to trafficking and exploitation, including cross-border dynamics.
Funding & Credibility
Backed by the McConnell Foundation
Little Warriors has been awarded a multi-year grant from the McConnell Foundation to support the development of a National Policy and Advocacy Framework for Child Sexual Abuse Deterrence and Support. This grant recognizes PROTECT's leadership role in advancing national dialogue, prevention, and systems change.
Over the next three years, this grant will help us:
01 Develop a National Policy and Advocacy Framework that brings together child advocacy centres, survivors, Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and researchers from across Canada.
02 Address systemic gaps in prevention, judicial reform, online safety, trafficking, and survivor support.
03 Empower grassroots advocates who are already working to influence change at community and policy levels.
04 Ensure Indigenous and marginalized voices are represented and embedded within national child protection efforts.
This initiative builds on existing partnerships with the University of Alberta, child and family services, and community organizations nationwide.
Partnerships
Building a movement through meaningful partnerships.
PROTECT Canada builds partnerships with academic institutions, Indigenous organizations, law enforcement, child advocacy centres, clinicians, survivor-serving organizations, and policy experts across Canada. These relationships turn evidence, lived experience, and frontline knowledge into coordinated child protection action for governments, systems, and communities.
Rather than duplicating efforts, PROTECT Canada amplifies, connects, and embeds best practices into policy frameworks across Canada. We are actively seeking to expand partnerships with national Child Advocacy Centres, legal reform advocates, and technology experts in online safety.
- University of Alberta
- University of Saskatchewan
- Ben Calf Robe Society
- Bent Arrow
- First Nations Technical Services Advisory Group (TSAG)
- RCMP
- Crimestoppers
- ACT Alberta
- Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre
- Zebra Centre
- Canadian Centre for Child Protection
- Alberta Foster Kinship Association (AFKA)
- #NotInMyCity
- Physicians & Clinicians across Canada
- Greenspace (outcome-tracking)
Cross-Cutting Commitments
Principles that run through every pillar.
PROTECT Canada applies Indigenous perspectives, trauma-informed development, non-partisan collaboration, evidence, and lived experience across the full national framework. These principles help ensure recommendations are practical, survivor-centred, culturally appropriate, and relevant to communities across Canada and across child-serving systems and implementation.
Indigenous Perspectives
Integrating Indigenous perspectives and culturally appropriate approaches into all recommendations, acknowledging the colonial roots of many systemic failures.
Trauma-Informed Development
Advancing trauma-informed, survivor-centered policy development across all six pillars and working groups.
Non-Partisan Collaboration
Supporting non-partisan engagement and collaboration across federal, provincial, and territorial governments to build durable, lasting reform.
Evidence & Lived Experience
Grounding all work in scientific research, measurement-based outcomes, and the lived experience of survivors and their communities.
A safer, more equitable Canada requires coordinated action.
PROTECT Canada is seeking coalition members who can strengthen the six-pillar framework through research, policy expertise, clinical knowledge, community leadership, lived experience, and implementation support. Contributions help shape coordinated child protection recommendations for governments, systems, and communities across Canada as the initiative grows.
This initiative represents more than a policy exercise — it's a movement. PROTECT Canada gives voice to survivors, creates consistency where fragmentation has failed, and builds something meaningful with communities, not just for them.
