We are parents, grandparents, caregivers, education workers, healthcare workers, people who work with children, and people who care about children. While we believe that the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario requires evidence-based and data-driven strategies to limit the harm to society, we are deeply concerned about the unintended harms that some measures are having on Ontario’s children and youth. 

Data show that communities across Ontario are experiencing COVID-19 differently, as is the capacity to test, trace and isolate. For this reason, we believe that a regionalized approach to COVID-19 control measures is the best way to ensure that the health, well-being, and development of children and youth is at the centre of decisions that substantially impact their daily lives and futures. 

Join Gord Sinclair (Tragically Hip), faculty from the Department of Medicine at Queen’s University, and others in calling upon decision-makers and stakeholders at all levels to support a regionalized approach that uses high quality evidence and data to inform pandemic mitigation strategies, while considering the interests of children and youth. 

See the Open Letter below and our signatories here.

Sincerely,

The Coalition for Kids

 

An open letter about limiting harms to children and youth through a regional approach

“We are at the age where you wanna get away from your parents and spend all day with your friends. School is one of the places we can see each other. This most recent lockdown has pushed me to start using more regularly. We NEED to be able to see friends, to keep our mentality in check.” – Student, aged 14 years

While we believe that the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic requires evidence-based and data-driven strategies to limit the harm to society, we are deeply concerned about the unintended harms that some measures are having on Ontario’s children and youth. 

Restrictions that have impacted the health, well-being, and development of children and youth include the closure of early years programs, schools, school- aged childcare, extracurricular activities (including sports and arts), and outdoor facilities (e.g., playgrounds, basketball courts, and skate parks). While all children and youth are affected by these restrictions, the negative impacts are amplified among those with disabilities, mental health, or substance use problems, and who experience food insecurity, abuse or neglect. 

We believe schools should be the last to close and first to open.  We know that schools play a critical role in identifying kids who need help and navigatinge them to sometimes life-saving help. We also know that racialized and vulnerable children are at even further risk of harm. Some provincially-mandated restrictions— such as blanket school closures — in low prevalence regions provide little benefit to the COVID-19 response, yet pose significant harms to children and youth. 

We call on all decision-makers and stakeholders to support a regionalized approach to COVID-19 control measures to ensure that the health, well-being, and development of children and youth is at the centre of those decisions that substantially impact their daily lives and futures. 

We call upon the Ford Government, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, and their advisors to: 

• Empower local Medical Officers of Health to make tailored and responsive decisions about COVID-19 control measures affecting children, youth, and their families, given the significant variation in COVID-19 prevalence and response capacity in regions across the Province. 
• Provide significant additional resources to limit the immediate and long-term harms of COVID-19 control measures on children's mental and physical health, social and emotional development, and educational experiences and outcomes.
• Ensure decisions that substantially impact children, youth, and families are centred on their best interests; based on high quality evidence and regionalized data; and consider their age and stage.

We call on local partners— including public health, municipal governments, school boards, hospitals, and child-focused organizations— to:

• Advocate for a regional approach to COVID-19 control measures with the aim of limiting harms to children, youth, and families while promoting their health, well-being, and development. 

We call on Education Worker Unions, the Ontario Hospital Association, the Ontario Medical Association, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, and the Children’s Health Coalition to:

• Recognize the varied experiences in regions across the Province in regards to COVID-19 transmission and capacity for prevention and control.
• Advocate to limit the harms to children and youth across the Province by adopting a regional approach to COVID-19 control measures  - rather than blanket solutions.

In sum, we call on decision-makers and stakeholders at all levels to support a regionalized approach to schools, services, programs and facilities impacting children and youth that uses high quality evidence and data to inform pandemic mitigation strategies, while also minimizing the risk of further harm to children and youth.