POLICY JOURNEY
FOR POLICY MAKERS & STAKEHOLDERS
A national framework for coordinated child protection reform.
Canada’s response to child sexual abuse remains fragmented, inconsistent, and largely reactive. PROTECT Canada is a McConnell Foundation-funded national initiative delivering a survivor-informed, evidence-based policy and advocacy framework across six priority domains.
THE CASE FOR NATIONAL COORDINATION
Fragmentation is not a funding problem. It is a systems problem.
Child protection in Canada operates across overlapping federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions, producing inconsistent outcomes that disproportionately affect Indigenous children, rural and remote communities, and survivors navigating cross-jurisdictional systems.
Key systemic failures addressed by the framework
Inconsistent mandatory reporting
Requirements and enforcement mechanisms vary across provincial and territorial jurisdictions, creating liability gaps.
Outdated statutory frameworks
Laws have not kept pace with technology-facilitated exploitation, including AI-generated CSAM and sextortion.
Institutional concealment
NDA regimes limit individual accountability and restrict survivor disclosure rights.
Fragmented survivor care
Insufficient continuity and portability of survivor support services across provincial boundaries.
Reactive infrastructure
Underfunded prevention with limited cross-jurisdictional coordination or evidence sharing.
Trafficking silos
Fragmented referral and response systems lacking unified national standards.
THE PROTECT CANADA FRAMEWORK
Six pillars. One coordinated national response.
Grounded in scientific research, jurisdictional analysis, trauma-informed practice, reconciliation principles, and lived experience of survivors.
01
Judicial Reform & Criminal Code Modernization
Coercive abuse recognition, sentencing consistency, victim rights, trauma-informed processes. Legislative context: Bill C-16.
02
Online Safety & Technology-Facilitated Exploitation
Platform accountability, 24-hour CSAM takedown, AI abuse, sextortion. Bills C-291, C-16 deepfakes, C-63 trajectory.
03
Institutional Accountability
Mandatory reporting harmonization, NDA limits, Trey’s Law alignment, Limitations Act reform.
04
Survivor Rights & System Stabilization
National service standards, portable supports, sustainable funding, Victims Bill of Rights enhancement.
05
Prevention & Early Intervention
Cross-jurisdictional prevention, digital safety and consent education, early risk identification.
06
Trafficking Response & Family Violence
Cross-sector identification, survivor-informed pathways, national and cross-border coordination.
CROSS-CUTTING COMMITMENTS
Principles embedded across all six pillars
Indigenous perspectives
01
Reconciliation principles and culturally appropriate approaches integrated into all recommendations, acknowledging colonial roots of many systemic failures.
Trauma-informed development
02
All policy recommendations developed through a trauma-informed, survivor-centred lens with structured, ethical survivor participation.
Non-partisan collaboration
03
Cross-partisan engagement across federal, provincial, and territorial governments for reform that lasts electoral cycles.
Evidence and lived experience
04
Outputs grounded in peer-reviewed research, measurement-based outcomes, and the expertise of survivors and frontline professionals.
COALITION STRUCTURE
A multi-sector coalition organized by working group
Nine sectors. Six working groups. Consensus-informed policy development with flexibility to respond to legislative windows.
3-Year
MCCONNELL FOUNDATION
Funding & Credibility
Little Warriors has been awarded a multi-year grant from the McConnell Foundation to support development of this National Policy and Advocacy Framework, providing institutional stability for sustained coalition engagement over a three-year period.
Shared language. Aligned priorities. Coordinated reform.
We are seeking partners who bring research capacity, policy expertise, clinical knowledge, community leadership, lived experience, and implementation insight.
