DOI: 10.3138/chr-2025-0043 ISSN: 0008-3755
Almost Persons: Children’s Rights and the Limits of the Rights Revolution in 1970s British Columbia
Mona Gleason, Tamara Gene Myers
This article examines a critical yet overlooked moment in Canada’s rights revolution: British Columbia’s ambitious attempt to establish enforceable children’s rights through provincial child welfare legislation in the 1970s. While scholars have documented how children’s rights discourse has shaped international agreements and Canadian social welfare policy, the efforts to turn rights for children into concrete legal protections during the 1970s remains under-explored. We focus on the
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Royal Commission on Family and Children’s Law chaired by Justice Thomas Berger, which produced draft legislation for “enforceable” children’s rights. The draft “Children’s Act” was the 1970s’ answer to the outdated 1901 Protection of Children Act. Through an examination of the commission’s records, including the 1975 draft Children’s Act, we trace how abstract rights principles were transformed into actionable legal provisions. We question claims of universality implied in advocating for children’s rights, especially where First Nations children were concerned. Ultimately, the Children’s Act would be defeated alongside the New Democratic Party and replaced with a more reactionary Family and Child Service Act underscoring adult authority. Nevertheless, it revealed an enduring paradox: regardless of the societal commitment to children’s rights, their enforcement remains dependent on adult political will
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