About the Centre
The Honourable Landon Pearson, O.C., founded the Centre with a transformational vision: to ensure every child in Canada grows up aware of their rights and exercises them within a receptive and respectful society. By amplifying children’s and young people’s concerns to adult decision-makers, the Centre fosters meaningful and impactful intergenerational dialogues. It champions the importance of young people’s perspectives and holds adults accountable for integrating these insights into their professional, children’s-rights-related practices across different sectors. Through our signature rights-respecting approach, we address pressing issues such as child welfare, youth justice, education, reconciliation, mental health, climate change, sexual exploitation, disability, discrimination and migration. Our research, teaching, policy and advocacy efforts are dedicated to making a tangible difference in these areas.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Centre plays a crucial role in ensuring that the principles of the UNCRC are understood, implemented and upheld in practical, real-life contexts. The UNCRC is an international human rights treaty that recognizes fundamental human rights — civil, economic, political and cultural rights — of every person under the age of 18. As of 2025, every eligible country in the world has ratified the Convention, except the US.
We’re a team of experts
Our Advisory Council and children’s rights colleagues in our international network bring interdisciplinary expertise on issues related to children, young people and human rights. Our team includes representatives from academia, government and non-governmental organizations, and children’s rights experts in law, medicine, policy and advocacy.
Our Centre offers a unique blend of expertise for organizations, individuals and students involved in children’s rights
Shaking the Movers (STM) National Workshop Series amplifies young people’s perspectives on issues that matter to their lives using a pioneering rights-respecting design that’s youth-led. Young people create reports from workshops held nationwide to communicate their concerns to adult decision-makers in various children’s rights sectors, who are held accountable for responding to young people’s concerns and translating their ideas into tangible actions. STM creates practical opportunities for children and young people to learn about the UNCRC and to discuss and exercise their civil and political rights and responsibilities. In 2019 for example, STM young people in New Brunswick made a presentation to members of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly to discuss their concerns about education. In 2025, CRAN colleagues will work to create a communiqué for the G7 leaders’ meeting in Kananaskis in June, incorporating the perspectives and concerns of young people noted in STM reports.
The Child Rights Academic Network (CRAN) is an international network of children’s rights professionals that meets annually and works collaboratively with STM networks to devise ways to take action on issues that matter to children and youth.
Canadian Journal of Children’s Rights (CJCR) is an electronic, peer-reviewed, international journal published annually and features interdisciplinary scholarly research relating to children’s rights in a global context.
The UN International Day of the Girl events have been held at Carleton each year on October 11th to mark this day. The Landon Pearson Centre also supports the Parliament Hill Day of the Girl event hosted by Senator Kim Pate.
Organizations: The Centre works with child-serving organizations to design rights-based, research-driven solutions to the challenges they face. For example, we partner with schools to create UNCRC and human rights materials in child-friendly language. Additionally, we work with government agencies to ensure young people’s input is included in UN reports. We create tailored resources for organizations, such as Families Canada, including children’s rights videos for newcomer families.
Students: We offer students mentorship and experiential opportunities for research, advocacy and action. These opportunities immerse students in hands-on projects with our partners, enabling them to collaborate with experts, develop their skills, and understand how theoretical ideas connect with practice in meaningful ways in the field of children’s rights. Students gain valuable research expertise and insights into the complexities of advocacy work that drive positive change in the lives of children and young people.