Thank you, honourable chair and honourable members of this committee.
Today, I join you from the authentic and resilient city of Hamilton and its surrounding areas, in the province of Ontario.
I am here to represent the members of the Offord Centre for Child Studies, which is a multidisciplinary research institute dedicated to improving the lives, health and development of children and youth. The Offord Centre is affiliated with McMaster University, McMaster Children's Hospital and Hamilton Health Sciences.
Today, I will position my testimony on one strategy for child and youth health that enhances all other strategies related to that.
The late Dr. Dan Offord, founder of the Offord Centre for Child Studies, believed that tracking children's life trajectories was vital to improving their health and well-being. To Dr. Offord, a clinician and researcher who worked at McMaster University—the birthplace of evidence-based medicine—data were key. Data help us identify and understand problems, and lead to evidence that helps formulate, deliver, evaluate and refine solutions.
Our recommendations for the Standing Committee on Health's study on children's health reflect the belief that everything we do to improve, support and sustain the physical and mental health of Canada's children and youth can become more efficient, effective, equitable and sustainable through evidence that builds on high-quality research and data.
The recommendations in this brief are a single, overarching recommendation in five parts. A strong national commitment to research in child and youth mental and physical health needs to build on an infrastructure capable of supporting that commitment. I'm glad these recommendations overlap with the ones noted by Dr. Afifi, earlier today. This is the best strategic path to achieving a significant and sustainable impact on all aspects of child and youth health. That impact can be pervasive, enhancing programs and services at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels, and within not-for-profit institutions nationwide. A single strategic decision can generate multi-faceted and lasting benefits for our children and youth.
I'm now going to outline five high-level recommendations.
Number one, establish long-term funding for research on child and youth mental and physical health as part of a national child and youth comprehensive health strategy.
Number two, establish a national research network to collect, coordinate and harmonize data related to child and youth mental and physical health in a research-accessible system.
Number three, invest in training researchers and frontline staff who can conduct research, translate research into policy and practice, and deliver care that reflects and contributes to research.
Number four, adapt our existing data-gathering practices to accommodate the specific needs of children and youth.
Number five, develop a learning health system in child and youth health to better connect research findings and evidence with the design and deployment of policy, care and training.
To conclude, we currently have inadequate information on a spectrum of health outcomes and factors ranging from child and youth mental health to race, ethnicity, child maltreatment and parental health. Many of the witnesses who testified before this committee have shared this.
Canada needs to invest in the coordinated effort and infrastructure required to generate the essential data, research and evidence leading to evidence-based policies and practices that foster healthier children and youth, a healthier society and reduced inequities. This kind of national investment—one that coordinates data gathering and analysis across provinces and territories—is a mandate that only fits with the Government of Canada. It is very timely within the larger context of the dialogue happening in our country, right now, in relation to health.
As a nation, we need to expand and enrich our ability to coordinate data collection, management and analysis. Then we need to embrace evidence-informed policy and practice to bridge the gap between research and the design and delivery of policy and practice that can improve the lives of children and youth and their families in this country.
I want to end by thanking all of you for your time, commitment and all you do for Canada's children and youth.