ABOUT US
ABOUT US
ABOUT US
INSPIRING HEALTHY FUTURES
INSPIRING HEALTHY FUTURES
Acceleration Agenda
Co-designing the future
Canada is at a decisive moment for children and youth. Despite Canada’s relative prosperity, outcomes for young people continue to lag behind those of peer nations due to fragmented systems, uneven access to supports, and a lack of coordinated national leadership. Yet across the country, there is strong consensus on the changes required to achieve measurable, equitable improvement.
Inspiring Healthy Futures’ updated Acceleration Agenda (2025–2027) outlines six national priorities that can drive meaningful progress. These priorities focus on system alignment, community strength, implementation of evidence, data modernization, and sustained leadership. Together, they reflect a shared national purpose: to build coherent, rights-based, child-centred systems in which every young person in Canada can thrive.
1
Build an Integrated Child and Youth Data and Evidence System: Canada cannot improve what it cannot see. Current data systems are fragmented, inconsistent, and insufficient for coordinated research and action. A modernized, integrated data ecosystem must provide comparable indicators across jurisdictions, real-time insights for communities, and governance that honours Indigenous data sovereignty.
2
Integrate Knowing, Learning, and Action: Canada has a strong and growing evidence base on what works for children and youth; the challenge is implementing and scaling it. Too often, innovations remain isolated pilots. Successful implementation requires cross-sector research that is deeply integrated into implementation, evaluation, and scaling.
3
Establish a Compelling Economic and Social Case for Investing in Children: Investments in children generate high returns across the lifespan, but preventive supports remain chronically underfunded. A unified economic narrative is needed to influence budget decisions and long-term planning across jurisdictions.
4
Strengthen Capacity and Expand Access to Whole-Community Supports: Community is the primary determinant of well-being. Cultural, identity-based, and grassroots organizations provide connection, belonging, mentorship, and continuity. Yet they operate with short-term, precarious funding and limited infrastructure.
5
Build Child-Centred Systems and Improve Transitions: Systems too often reflect institutional needs rather than developmental realities of childhood. Transitions—between child/youth and adult care, between systems, between life stages—are especially fraught.
6
Increase Leadership and Coordination for a National Child and Youth Agenda: Transforming fragmented systems requires coherent national leadership. A cross-sector, multi-jurisdiction coalition can align priorities, measure progress, and sustain momentum across electoral cycles.
We are calling on leaders across sectors to:
​
-
Align around the six national priorities and integrate them into strategic plans.
-
Contribute to and adopt a shared national set of child well-being indicators.
-
Participate in the national coalition to coordinate action across research, practice, policy, and community systems, including aligning research agendas with system-wide priorities.
-
Use a shared communications narrative rooted in rights, equity, community strength, and economic value.
-
Share innovations and build a learning ecosystem—not isolated pilots.
With coordinated leadership, long-term investment, and a commitment to equity, Canada can transform a fragmented landscape into a coherent system that reflects the rights, cultures, and aspirations of young people across the country.
The time to act—decisively and together—is now.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all our partners and contributors who made this work possible, including our founding co-sponsors: UNICEF Canada, Children’s Healthcare Canada, the Pediatric Chairs of Canada, and the CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health. A Future Fit for Kids Summit would not have been possible without the incredible partnership of One Child Every Child and Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities.
Previous Agendas
The 2023 agenda (2.0)
Canada is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, yet we consistently rank low among peer countries in terms of child and youth health outcomes. The Inspiring Healthy Futures initiative was launched to address this disparity and foster a collaborative, multi-sectoral approach to improving the lives of children and families across the country.
​In 2023 we launched the second agenda designed to accelerate progress in child and youth health and well-being across Canada through 2024–2025. Building on the successes of our initial plan, this updated Acceleration Agenda outlined seven high-level actions that aim to create transformative impact and sustainable change.
-
Collaborate to develop a National Child and Youth Strategy to be the foundation for multi-generational, sustainable change.
-
Expedite equitable access to essential healthcare for all childrenand youth, regardless of their postal code.
-
Catalyze pan-Canadian strategies for a sustainable health workforce based on future needs.
-
Support a fully integrated, collaborative research ecosystem that enables sustainable discovery science, shapes improved health outcomes, and informs equitable child, youth, and family health policy.
-
Accelerate action on climate policy with a child and youth well-being and rights approach.
-
Activate and support schools as community hubs to promote healthy development for kids and families.
-
Partner with Indigenous communities to accelerate community-defined research and health priorities.
The 2021 agenda (1.0)
Our initial Acceleration Agenda guided our work through 2021–2023. Throughout the development of Inspiring Healthy Futures, participants repeatedly emphasized that we must act together and with urgency. As the COVID-19 era was unfolding, it was important to mobilize to prevent further risk to children and strengthen resilience and inclusive recovery.
​
As a collective, we would be better able to ensure politicians, policymakers, community leaders and other decision-makers understand that equitable child, youth and family health and well-being must be at the centre. Without child and family recovery there is no economic recovery and no sustainable future. This initial Acceleration Agenda set the foundation for longer-term, substantive action.
​
1.1 A plan for child, youth and family-friendly pandemic recovery
​
As investment and funding decisions are made for COVID-19 recovery, we need to launch a comprehensive campaign to call attention to the evolving and inequitable impacts on the mental and physical health and well-being of children, youth and families.
This campaign will highlight the need for access to inclusive, accessible, flexible policies and services for recovery, resilience and rebuilding across systems. A focus is needed on early childhood, youth at risk, youth in transition to adulthood, and families with children with complex physical and developmental conditions.
This campaign will energize a recovery plan and take us another step toward what participants described as a national hub to help foster connection and integration across research, policymaking, system-building and advocacy for and with children, youth and families.
1.2 Comprehensive, cross-disciplinary research to understand and alleviate the full impact of the COVID-19 era on children, youth and families
​
COVID-19 is a novel disease, with uncertain and evolving direct and indirect impacts on children, youth and pregnancy. The pandemic era has generated unprecedented social changes that may affect the development, well-being and trajectories of children and youth for decades. To generate the most meaningful knowledge about impact, mitigation, resilience and recovery, researchers and decision-makers need to come together now, across disciplines, to initiate interconnected short and longitudinal studies.
1.3 A national child and youth hub to connect research, policy, systems, advocacy and services
​
The single most commonly identified action by participants in Inspiring Healthy Futures was to create a “network of networks” to connect the diverse communities of people who study, mobilize, advocate for and work with children, youth and families.
Building on existing platforms and networks, this initiative should enable people to locate others; find and create communities of practice; share knowledge, resources and ideas; support each other; collaborate on research and other initiatives; and share opportunities for youth involvement.