Child & Youth Rights and Well-being in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia College of Social Workers

Ticketing has now closed. If you would like to attend please send an email to nscsw@nscsw.org with name and your general location.

<p>In honour of National Child Day, join Dalhousie University's  Healthy Populations Institute, IWK Mental Health &amp; Addictions, and the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers (NSCSW),  for this special virtual event featuring a collective of passionate advocates for a critical conversation on child and youth well-being in Nova Scotia and the formation of a provincial Child and Youth Commission.</p><p><em>Les sous-titres français seront fournis via Zoom.</em></p><h2>F﻿ormat</h2><p>Fishbowl conversation – in-person panel discussion (Dalhousie Campus) with online audience. This will feature a group of people in person discussing critical questions, with an audience online, to facilitate a critical conversation that maps out how the newly proposed Child and Youth Commission might advance some of the findings of various reports focused on child/youth well-being.</p><h2>B﻿ackground</h2><p>National Child Day is taking place across Canada on November 20, 2022. As Canada is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), we would like to mark this occasion with a critical conversation that highlights recent, relevant and multi-faceted reports on child and youth rights and well-being.  An output of this critical conversation will be a joint submission to the newly announced Nova Scotia Child and Youth Commission Steering Committee.</p><h3>Reports</h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.onechancens.ca" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">One Chance to be a Child | Nova Scotia</a></li><li><a href="https://www.asi-iea.ca/en/files/2022/04/ASI-Policy-Brief-2022-03-09.pdf" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Atlantic Summer Institute policy brief: Placing infant, child and youth mental health promotion at the forefront</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nsqualityoflife.ca" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">NS Quality of Life Data Visualization Tool</a></li><li><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/615b42b67a44671f61b7f0c8/t/6346e16f9ce1ec7093794c09/1665589615819/Hearing+them+-+Risks+Prevention.pdf" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Hearing Them: Exploring the vulnerability and risk factors for commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth in Nova Scotia</a></li><li><a href="https://restorativeinquiry.ca" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">A Different Way Forward | Restorative Inquiry</a></li></ul><h2>Professional development for social workers</h2><p>For members of NSCSW, participating in this event can be considered <strong>formal professional development</strong> as defined by NSCSW's <a href="https://nscsw.org/pd" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">guidelines for annual professional development</a>.  Members can use the registration confirmation email or PDF ticket as a verification document.</p><p>Participants may also choose to follow up after the session to participate in advocacy related to the session's content; such advocacy activities are eligible for the newly <a href="https://nscsw.org/practice/professional-development-standards/#pdMandated" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">mandated requirements</a> for all social workers in Nova Scotia to complete <strong>annual training or activities related to social justice</strong>.</p><p>Visit <a href="https://nscsw.org/pd" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">nscsw.org/pd</a> for more information about the updated professional development requirements for Nova Scotia social workers.</p>

<h2>S﻿peakers</h2><p><strong>Lila Pavey</strong> (she/her) is a Health Promotion Specialist with the Mental Health and Addictions Team at the IWK Health Centre. Lila holds a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Pretoria, South Africa and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from St. Francis Xavier University. Lila has over 12 years’ experience holding positions in Canada and Southern Africa in government, international organizations, and non-profits. Lila has experience in program management in the fields of public health, gender, international and community development, adolescents and youth, orphans and vulnerable children, HIV, and key populations. Lila’s current role at IWK Health encompasses a population health approach striving for improving protective factors for positive mental health and well-being and reducing risk factors and inequities for children and youth in Nova Scotia. Lila is from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and is a contributing author on the report “Hearing Them: Exploring vulnerabilities and risk factors for commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth in Nova Scotia”.</p><p><strong>Malcolm Shookner</strong> (ASI President) has an extensive background in community development, social research, health promotion and public policy in the non-profit, academic and public sectors. He has worked on many projects that use indicators to measure the quality of life, sustainability, health and well-being of communities. Malcolm was formerly the Chief Statistician for Nova Scotia Community Counts (retired), a provincially supported website that provided information for and about communities. Malcolm Is leading ASI’s work on its policy brief to support upstream investment in infant, child and youth mental health promotion.</p><p><strong>Crystal Hill</strong> is a Registered Social Worker employed by Nova Scotia Legal Aid.  As Legal Aid’s Indigenous Social Worker she works with Legal Aid clients who identify as Indigenous and who are involved in family court matters. She also has a strong background in mental health having been employed by the Canadian Mental Health Association in excess of 10 years. Additionally, she is a proud Mi’kmaw woman from Glooscap First Nation. </p><p><strong>Danny Graham</strong> is currently the Chief Engagement Officer for Engage Nova Scotia – an independent non-profit that is leading the Nova Scotia Quality of Life Initiative, with an extensive network of partners from the public, private, academic and community sectors – provincially, nationally, and internationally. In 2019 almost 13,000 Nova Scotians responded to a 230-question survey administered by Engage NS in cooperation with the Canadian Index of Wellbeing.  With Dalhousie University, they have developed pioneering tools to extract the findings of the survey in real time across demographic and neighbourhood profiles. Partners in all three levels of government, are considering the findings of the survey and the use of the tools to catalyse new action, inform policy decisions and shape the narrative about how to build a successful society. Over a thirty-year period, Danny has held senior positions in business, law, and government. For 10 years he was the Chief Negotiator on Aboriginal Rights for the Province of Nova Scotia. He is credited with starting the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Program and has worked to advance justice reforms with the United Nations and countries spanning four continents. He has been recognized by organizations throughout Atlantic Canada for his community and public service. </p><p><strong>Estelle Alexander</strong>, youth representative, is a fourth-year health promotion honours student at Dalhousie University. She has worked on the feedback from the One Chance to Be A Child report (supervisor Dr. Sara Kirk). Her honours work uses qualitative research to collect and assess the feedback from children and youth in Nova Scotia based on their thoughts on the One Chance to Be A Child report. </p><p><strong>Jacqueline (Jacquie) Gahagan</strong>, PhD (Medical Sociology) is a Credentialed Evaluator (CES), a Full Professor and Associate Vice-President of Research at Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) in Halifax Nova Scotia. Prior to joining MSVU Jacquie was a Full Professor of Health Promotion in the Faculty of Health at Dalhousie University where they taught community health promotion, program planning, and measurement and evaluation courses. Jacquie is a founding member and serves as the Co-Director of the Atlantic Interdisciplinary Research Network for Social and Behavioural Aspects of HIV and HCV (airn.ca), is a Founding Fellow of the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance and is an Affiliate Scientist with the Nova Scotia Health Authority. Prior to this, Jacquie held a variety of Research Scholar and Research Associate positions with the Jean Monnet European Union Centre of Excellence, the Atlantic Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, the Health Law Institute, the Healthy Populations Institute, the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute, among others. Jacquie serves as a Scientific Officer for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and an Institute Advisory Board member of the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health (CIHR-IGH). Jacquie’s longstanding program of mixed methods health promotion research focuses on evaluating policy and programming interventions using sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA+) to identity and address health inequities among equity-deserving populations. Jacquie has been involved in HIV research and advocacy for over 30 years working with women living with or affected by HIV, HCV or other STBBIs and received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for their efforts. Jacquie's funded studies focus on the scaling-up of access to innovative HIV testing technologies, the health equity and health outcomes of LGBTQ2I populations, including access to safe and affirming housing and healthcare among LGBTQ2I communities, and end-of-life decision-making.  Jacquie worked as an evaluation specialist in public health at the municipal, provincial and national levels in relation to harm reduction, HIV/HCV prevention, and tobacco use cessation prior to their academic career.</p>

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Child & Youth Rights and Well-being in Nova Scotia

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