2026 Spring Economic Update

It's time to move children and youth from the margins of public policy to the centre of Canada’s long-term prosperity

The 2026 Spring Economic Update sends a mixed but important signal for those working to improve outcomes for children and youth in Canada. While the Update does not position children and youth as a central policy priority in their own right, it does include several investments that will shape the conditions in which children grow, learn, and thrive. The federal government confirmed continued investments in Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care, including the extension of agreements beginning in 2026–27 and the movement of $695 million to support Ontario’s continued participation in the national child care framework. The Update also maintains support for the creation of new early learning and child care spaces—critical infrastructure for families, workforce participation, and healthy child development.

Importantly, the Update also includes significant investments in Indigenous children, youth, and families. This includes:

• $778 million to extend support for Jordan’s Principle, helping First Nations children access the health, education, and social supports they need when governments fail to coordinate.

• $115 million to extend support for the Inuit Child First Initiative, ensuring Inuit children can access culturally appropriate services closer to home.

• $794 million for the Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) Program, which supports First Nations and Inuit access to medically necessary services including prescriptions, medical transportation, and mental health counselling.

• $700 million over six years to support Indigenous communities exercising jurisdiction under An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, enabling communities to design child and family systems grounded in culture, language, and self-determination.

These are meaningful commitments, particularly in areas where Indigenous communities have long called for equitable, distinctions-based approaches to child and family well-being, but they should have been included in Budget 2025 from the beginning. They also fall short of the funding levels advocates say will make a difference for Indigenous children.

The Update also includes broader investments in housing, community infrastructure, and workforce development—all areas that indirectly shape child health and family well-being. Together, these investments matter. But they also reinforce a broader challenge: children and youth continue to benefit primarily through indirect policy measures or issue-specific programs, rather than through a coordinated, whole-of-government strategy for child and youth well-being. For Inspiring Healthy Futures, this reinforces what leaders from across Canada told us at the 2025 Fall Summit: improving outcomes for children and youth requires intentional alignment across health, education, housing, research, Indigenous self-determination, and social policy.

As Canada looks toward Budget 2027—and as Bill S-212 moves to the House of Commons—the opportunity is clear: to move children and youth from the margins of public policy to the centre of Canada’s long-term prosperity.

I actually think the Indigenous investments strengthen your overall argument—they show government can act intentionally for children when it chooses to. That creates a stronger case for why all children and youth need similarly coordinated national attention.