Report calls for child rights approach to address crisis in Canadian kids' media
A new white paper says 85 percent of industry members feel the sector is in crisis and calls for urgent government action.
CALGARY — A new report commissioned by Rocket Fund Canada calls for a fundamental shift to put children's rights at the centre of Canadian media policy and funding to address an industry crisis.
The white paper, titled Project Sunbeam: Kids' Rights in Canadian Media, found that 85 per cent of both Anglophone and Francophone industry members feel the sector is in crisis or declining.
"Children and youth have rights that Canada has committed to, and we are not living up to those expectations. There is an urgency to act now," said Rocket Fund Canada President and CEO Agnes Augustin.
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The report says 80 per cent of Francophone respondents described their financial challenges as a cultural emergency requiring immediate government intervention.
It notes that 11 independent Canadian children's channels have closed and funding for kids' content keeps falling.
Lead researcher and report author Kim Wilson said she found that Canadian children and youth are not simply an audience.
"Children are rights holders, and their best interests must come first," she said. "They have the right to be heard, to take part in culture, to privacy and to expression."
The report says children's rights extend to digital services, algorithms, data, devices, AI and platform design.
It points out that children and youth were not represented in the House of Commons Finance Committee's 2026 pre-budget report, which included no recommendations on children's or youth media.
The report puts forward six priority actions for industry, funders and government.
The first is to treat children and youth as the rights holders they are.
The second calls for the creation of a protected children's and youth media fund with new architecture.
It also recommends treating discoverability and audience development as part of the investment, building Canada's capacity to understand childhood as it changes, making platforms and AI accountable to children's rights and development, and protecting cultural continuity through Francophone and Indigenous media pathways and public broadcasting.
"The opportunity in front of us is to apply a Team Canada approach to children's and youth media, bringing together children and youth, families, educators, researchers, creators, industry, communities and government," Augustin said.
She said a child rights approach would allow for Canadian content that reflects what children and youth need to engage with, and strengthen Canada's cultural and economic future.
The report says Canada has led on children's rights just as it has in children's media and must be leaders again.
Rocket Fund Canada is the only dedicated fund for children's and youth content in the country.
Since its inception, the Rocket Fund has invested $300 million to support the production of Canadian media content for children, family, and youth audiences worldwide.
With files from PR Newswire Canada
Isabelle Moreau is the editor of Novello Desserts and writes about family life and everyday living in Canada. The editor signs off on corrections and editorial standards.