About the Centre

The Landon Pearson Resource Centre was created with a powerful vision: every child in Canada will grow up aware of his or her rights and responsibilities and enabled to exercise them within a receptive and respectful society. The Centre began with a donation by Senator Pearson to Carleton University, which included her extensive collection of books, documents and reports collected over a lifetime of engagement with children. The collection also contains archival material that documents the evolution over time of perceptions of childhood and conception of children’s rights both in Canada and abroad.

The Centre has and will continue to give children and youth a voice in advance their rights by:

Creating practical opportunities with and for children and youth for the exercise of their civil and political rights and responsibilities;
Providing children and youth with access to information and knowledge about their fundamental citizenship rights;
Actively challenging and engaging schools, educational institutions, government and the not-for-profit sector to systematically and structurally respect the right to be heard of children and youth;
Demonstrating model decision-making processes that involve children and youth in important civil and political decisions;
Reinforcing and facilitating the network of agencies that shape public policy with respect to children and youth; and
Nurturing in adults a culture of respect for children and youth as fellow citizens and the willingness to hear what they have to say.

At the heart of the Centre's dream is its commitment to facilitating opportunities for youth to increase their civic and political participation, to giving them the tools to be advocates for social change and to disseminating knowledge to educators, decision-makers, advocates and youth.

The Landon Pearson Centre has undergone much of its work over its lifespan through the dedicated support of the Centre for Initiatives on Children, Youth and Community (CICYC). CICYC is comprised of faculty from Carleton University and their colleagues in community organizations and private agencies who are dedicated to research and development, as well as related activities that promote the safety, health and well being of Canadian children and youth. For more information on CICYC, please visit http://www.carleton.ca/cicyc/.

The Landon Pearson Resource Centre will continue to remain at the forefront of children's rights development and engagement. Please visit the contact page if you wish to recieve more information on the Centre or participate in one of its upcoming events.

Web links

Article on the opening of the Landon Pearson Centre

Please click the link to read about the opening of the Landon Pearson Resource Centre for the Study of Childhood and Children's Rights