Recent News
Manitoba Advocate hosts Safe and Sound webinars
October is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) awareness month. In Canada, sudden and unexplained deaths remain the second leading cause of death for infants between the ages of one month and 12 months. Over the last 10 years, 145 Manitoba infants died unexpectedly in their sleep.
Sleep-related infant deaths are not only a serious public health concern, but they are also a children’s rights issue. While each of us who has cared for a baby has done so with the best of our knowledge and abilities, evidence about safe care for babies has evolved, and so too must our knowledge on how to keep babies safe while they sleep.
The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth (MACY) released Safe and Sound: A Special Report on the Unexpected Sleep-Related Deaths of 145 Manitoba Infants earlier this year. MACY’s Research Hub will share the report’s findings and recommendations in a webinar series throughout October.
Manitoba Advocate Launches Youth Survey
The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth wants to hear directly from youth ages 14-20 in a short survey. The survey, available here, asks youth about what issues matter to them most. Respondents can enter to win an iPad mini and MACY swag! Survey results will inform future reports and advocacy efforts from MACY.
The Advocate has released her latest special report: “Stop Giving Me a Number and Start Giving Me a Person”: How 22 Girls Illuminate the Cracks in the Manitoba Youth Mental Health and Addiction System
The Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth released her report titled “Stop Giving Me a Number and Start Giving Me a Person”: How 22 Girls Illuminate the Cracks in the Manitoba Youth Mental Health and Addiction System on May 7, National Youth Mental Health Day. The report dives into lessons learned from the suicide deaths of 22 Manitoba girls, ages 11-17. These girls were primarily from rural and northern Manitoba communities and died between 2013 and 2019. After investigating their deaths, the Advocate made seven recommendations to the provincial government on ways to fix its youth mental health and addictions systems and therefore improve children and youth’s wellbeing. The recommendations include spreading more equitable services around the province, releasing a public inventory of available therapeutic services and creating more acute services for children and youth with severe needs.
To read the full report, click here.
To read the news release, click here.
To read the Manitoba Advocate’s remarks, click here.
