We have the utmost respect for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the optional protocols to which we are a party. We will uphold our international obligations in every way.
At the same time we, as you do, recognize that 14-year-olds are generally in high school. They generally take many more tests, and harder tests in fact, than the citizenship one that is being proposed for them right now, starting at the age of 14. We think that's fair.
The test results for younger people show that they are almost certain to do as well or better than adults, and it seems reasonable to us that children of high school age and pre-retirement adults of working age should be subject to the language and knowledge tests.
To give you an example, more than 57,000 students participated in the Historica Canada Citizenship Challenge in 2014 and wrote a citizenship test based on “Discover Canada”. Of those in grade 9, 70% passed the test. This means that they achieved a score of 75% or better, which is the same pass grade as that for the official citizenship exam, and they weren't getting citizenship. With that added inducement, we would count on people of that age doing even better.