Children and Schools During COVID-19 and Beyond: Engagement and Connection Through Opportunity

Chapter 1: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Health of Canadian Children and Youth by Tracy Vaillancourt, Peter Szatmari, Katholiki Georgiades, and Amanda Krygsman Chapter 2: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Learning and Achievement of Vulnerable Canadian Children and Youth by Jess Whitley, Miriam H. [...] The formation of a national roundtable in collaboration with existing federations, unions, and affiliated associations including the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada is needed to reconsider the professional status of education and work to improve the conditions under which educators and children and youth spend their days. [...] Factors like the lack of contact with peers and teachers, the fear of health and death of family members, and the decreased structure in daily living seem to have contributed to increased anxiety, depression, and behavioural problems in many children and youth (Fegert et al., 2020). [...] In their policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on children, the United Nations (2020) identified the need for “a rapid accumulation of data on the scale and nature of impacts among children” and yet a recent large-scale search of children’s mental health research in the context of the pandemic found a “striking lack of research” on this topic (Racine et al., 2020). [...] The federal government needs to establish a policy framework for child and youth mental health and a national children’s commissioner is needed to advise the Cabinet of Canada and contribute to all policies that impact children and youth and to advise provinces/territories and coordinate pan-Canadian efforts.