Canada has ratified the Convention as well as the Optional Protocols on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, which establishes a process for children to bring complaints to the Committee on the rights of the Child, was opened for signature in 2012. Canada has neither signed nor ratified this optional protocol. The treaty establishes a Committee on the Rights of the Child which reported in October 2012 on further steps Canada could take to meet its obligations under the Convention.
Canada was among the early states party to the Convention, depositing its instrument of ratification on 13 December 1991.
Canadian reservations. Canada has made two reservations that qualify its acceptance of the provisions of the Convention.
– Regarding Article 21 (which sets out provisions governing systems of adoption to ensure that these “ensure the best interests of the child”), Canada has stated:
With a view to ensuring full respect for the purposes and intent of article 20 (3) and article 30 of the Convention, the Government of Canada reserves the right not to apply the provisions of article 21 to the extent that they may be inconsistent with customary forms of care among aboriginal peoples in Canada.
– Regarding Article 37 (c) (which sets out provisions such as arrest, detention, etc., circumstances where children are deprived of liberty), Canada has stated:
The Government of Canada accepts the general principles of article 37 (c) of the Convention, but reserves the right not to detain children separately from adults where this is not appropriate or feasible.
Canada has also ratified the Optional Protocols on Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, which establishes a process for children to bring complaints to the Committee on the rights of the Child, was opened for signature in 2012. Canada has neither signed nor ratified this optional protocol.