VICTORIA – As B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth, I want to formally acknowledge and celebrate the fact that longtime advocate and “children’s warrior” Dr. Cindy Blackstock has this week received a prestigious and very well-deserved global honour recognizing her years of advocacy on behalf of young people.  Dr. Blackstock has been awarded the 2023 World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child, also sometimes referred to as the “Children’s Nobel Prize.” 

The award is bestowed by the World’s Children’s Prize program – among the globe’s largest annual education programs, empowering children to become changemakers who can stand up for the equality of all people, children’s rights, democracy and sustainable development. 

The award is voted on by children around the globe between 10- and 18 years-old. Since 2000, close to 50 million children have participated in the program in various ways including selecting the recipient of this award.  

Dr. Blackstock is in great company, with past recipients such as Nelson Mandela, Anne Frank and Desmond Tutu. Dr. Blackstock has fought on behalf of Indigenous children for several decades and has made it her life’s mission to ensure substantive equality for Indigenous children across Canada.  

This award will help ensure that her remarkable legacy is understood and felt for generations to come. In particular, Dr. Blackstock is known for her tireless work in supporting a human rights complaint initially filed against the Government of Canada in 2007. 

Her efforts have helped secure a victory that, as an Indigenous Child & Family Services Directors Our Children Our Way Society news release says, “has resulted in a settlement agreement that will provide compensation to children, youth and families harmed by Canada’s discriminatory funding practices and support long-term reform to ensure discrimination never happens again.” 

As Our Children Our Way Society chair Mary Teegee says: “Today, along with the children of the world, we are celebrating this phenomenal Gitx’san warrior.” 

I couldn’t agree more.