UNICEF Canada, The Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children, the Faculty of Law and David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights, University of Toronto and Justice for Children and Youth are holding a conference on the Best Interests of the Child: Meaning and Application in Canada February 27-28, 2009 at the Faculty of Law, UofT. The conference is supported by Heritage Canada.
Taken from the conference website:
“The Best Interests of the Child is one of the basic principles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has been interpreted and applied in different ways in a variety of different contexts in Canada. In 2003, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that Canada work toward a common understanding and more consistent application of the principle, at the level of public policy formation as well as in decision-making for individual children.
“The objective of this conference is to deepen understanding of the principle, share experiences of its application, and identify good practices for implementation in Canada. The intended outcome of the initiative is a more common understanding of the principle and improved implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Canada, including publication of significant findings”.
Organizers are open to receiving submissions for panel presentation and facilitating workshops. For more information, see the conference website or contact bnoakes@unicef.ca.