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Senate Committee on Human Rights report calls for changes to government care for youth

Tuesday, 16 December 2025 09:04

By Stuart Cardinal Bonell X @BonellStuart

Senate Committee on Human Rights Chair Senator Paulette Senior (Photo: Senate of Canada)

Committee Chair Senator Paulette Senior says that Indigenous youth are particularly in need of a transitional system.

The Senate Committee on Human Rights has renewed calls for reform to ensure vulnerable young adults are not abandoned when they age out of government care.

Earlier this month, the committee released a report that found that young people in government care lose support based on an arbitrary birthday. In some provinces, like British Columbia, youth may be eligible to receive support up to the age of 27, whereas in other provinces, all support is cut off after turning 18.

In preparing the report, the committee heard about the “child-welfare to prison pipeline,” in which troubled youth get caught up in the criminal justice system when they lose their supports.

Senate Committee on Human Rights Chair Senator Paulette Senior spoke with CHON-FM about the report. She says that, while all youth are at risk with the current system, Indigenous youth in particular would benefit from a change to a slower transition out of government care.

“All youth are very vulnerable, but Indigenous young people, in particular, who age out of care and really are in need of a transition approach to adulthood, if you will,” said Senator Senior. “We’re finding that there’s a lacking in terms of that. But it’s particularly precarious for Indigenous young people.”

The report makes eight recommendations, including developing wraparound supports for youth aging out of care and establishing a national children and youth commissioner.

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