News and Events

Sponsored by: The Canadian Medical Association 

Event Description

On June 25th, Children's Healthcare Canada hosted a webinar with more than 200 members and partners focused on the impact of disinformation and digital harms on children's health, highlighting the urgent need for updated legislation and regulatory frameworks to protect youth online. Our panel of experts, Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt, UOttawa, Marie-Ève Nadeau, 5Rights Foundation, John Matheson, Reset Tech and Mihir Rao, UN Youth Advocate, discussed the role of social media platforms in perpetuating harmful content through addictive design, the mental health consequences for children, and the importance of youth participation in policymaking. The panel emphasized multi-stakeholder collaboration, digital literacy education, and robust governmental action, including new legislation, to ensure safer digital environments for children.

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Resources Shared: 

• Updated Disrupted Childhood: The cost of persuasive design

• Toward a Safer and Rights-Respecting Digital Environment for Children in Canada 

• Children’s privacy code – Exploratory consultation             

• 5RIGHTS FOUNDATION – Twisted Toys

• Vote for Turtle: A 3-minute game about disinformation

• Safer Online Spaces Pledge - Please share this campaign within your professional and personal networks. The more signatures collected, the greater the likelihood of success in persuading PM Carney to prioritize new online safety legislation.

In March 2024, Children’s Healthcare Canada, in collaboration with the IWK Health Centre, One Child Every Child, and a national planning committee, launched a 3-part Child Health Equity: A Systems-Focused Learning Series, conducted through a series of Zoom webinars. 

View the Event Summary  |  View the Event Recordings

ScienceUpFirst, an initiative of CASC, and Children’s Healthcare Canada hosted a free national Kids and Vaccines Town Hall event to answer questions from kids, caregivers and educators about the importance and safety of routine vaccinations, as well as influenza and COVID-19 vaccines, as we continue to face a surge in infection caused by both.

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This day long conference on September 13, 2022 was one component of the Immunizing Children with Confidence project, a collaboration between Children's Healthcare Canada and Solutions for Kids in Pain.

From H1N1 and SARS we learned not to ignore lessons learned! Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past.  This Pop-Up worked to capture and imbed our Covid-19 pediatric immunization lessons learned into organizational policies, processes, and practices along the continuum of disciplines that feed into the delivery of immunization services for children and youth. From collaboration to communication, and from access to accessibility, we highlighted the lessons learned and future opportunities to strengthen the resiliency of our health systems and ensure we are prepared for future crises. 

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Children’s Healthcare Canada, in collaboration with children’s champions from across Canada, have been hosting a series of  solutions-oriented consultations focused on addressing priorities identified by the child and youth mental health community. 

What We Learned From COVID About Ourselves Our System Our Future

Co-hosted by Children’s Healthcare Canada and the IWK Health Centre in April 2022, this was the first in a series of events that will lead to a better understanding of service needs coming out of the pandemic. Brief presentations on mental health data, health human resources, clinical service, and lived-experience were followed by facilitated break out rooms. The discussions were focused on the present state with an eye to what is working and looking towards solutions.  Individuals from across the continuum of care as well as provincial ministries, and Members of Parliament engaged in small group discussions led by Deloitte and Children’s Healthcare Canada staff.

Event Summary  |  Session Recordings

Team Composition - Training and Education - Supporting the Workforce (May 13, 2022)

One of the key messages from the Leadership Summit was the importance of mental health nurses in all service settings and how staffing pressures have become a challenge across the mental health care continuum. On May 13th, we convened leaders in child and youth mental health to take a solutions-focused approach to the shared challenges facing the workforce. 

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Rebuild or Reimagine | Optimizing current service models - Best practice in virtual counselling & therapy (June 17, 2022)

During this event we explored how new and developing models of care can adapt to hybrid. Many organizations have had success with virtual care and have implemented innovation programs but we need to ensure that programs like stepped care, stratified care or CAPA can be delivered effectively in a hybrid model. 

May 24, 2022, on the heels of the launch of the Unicef Report Card 17, Children’s Healthcare Canada hosted a virtual pop-up event focused on climate change and kids. We explored the relationship between children’s health and the environment, and how health systems can be better prepared for natural disasters and their impact on children.

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UNICEF Report Card 17 Launch 

For two decades, the UNICEF Report Card series has revealed the state of children and youth across high-income countries. In 2020, Canada ranked 30th of 38 countries in their overall well-being. UNICEF Report Card 17 takes a new focus on children’s environment. It compares rich countries’ environmental impacts on young people’s health and broader well-being.  Watch an intergenerational dialogue with UNICEF Canada and guests to review Canada's progress and the policies that will protect children’s environment and their right to a childhood.

View the Report Card Launch

This day long conference on January 27, 2022 was one component of the Immunizing Children with Confidence project, a collaboration between Children's Healthcare Canada and Solutions for Kids in Pain, co-hosted by Stollery Children’s Hospital & Alberta Health Services. This event provided healthcare professionals with the skills, tools, and information necessary to confidently promote and provide vaccinations to children and their families. This timely and critical content was developed in partnership with the Immunizing Children with Confidence Advisory Committee comprised of children's healthcare, infectious disease, vaccine development and approval, health policy, and other expertise. To learn more, visit our resource hub.

Topics, delivered by the Children’s Healthcare Canada community included:

• Preventing needle fear and pain: How to reduce distress and pain associated with needle fear.
• Vaccinate in confidence: How to set up your vaccination clinics and vaccination tips to optimize the experience for children and youth.
• Counselling vaccine hesitant families: How to engage with families experiencing vaccine hesitancy.
• Science and risk communication: How to clearly communicate vaccine safety and effectiveness information.

EVENT SUMMARY  |  SESSION RECORDINGS

Children with complex medical needs are considered to be children that have a unique combination of substantial family-identified service needs, characteristic chronic and severe health conditions, functional limitations, and extraordinarily high health care use. These children frequently enter the healthcare system, for a variety of reasons, seeing a range of different healthcare providers, leaving parents and caregivers to provide a significant amount of advanced care, and the responsibility to navigate a complex and often fragmented healthcare system.

In partnership with Alberta Children's Hospital and Alberta Health Services, Children's Healthcare Canada welcomed delegates to this event , March 25, 2021 where we showcased and shared practices that we know are working to help support these children, youth and families.

EVENT RECAP  |  SESSION RECORDINGS

Inspired by the Children’s Healthcare Canada strategy, the vision for the inaugural Canadian Transition to Adulthood Pop-Up Event held January 26 and 27, 2021, was centred on how we build bridges to promote the best possible health outcomes for youth and families in Canada. We  celebrated the best of what we are learning, and doing, to help young people to develop fully, even when they are challenged by health conditions.

Children's Healthcare Canada and our Health Hub in Transition with support from McMaster Children's Hospital and CanChild hosted over 200 delegates at this virtual event.

EVENT BRIEF  |  SESSION RECORDINGS