Turning Points: Canadians from Coast to Coast Set a New Course for Healthy Child and Youth Development. The National Goals for Healthy Child and Youth Development = Points Tournants: Les Canadiens et les Canadiennes d'un ocean a l'autre tracent une nouvelle voie pour le developpement sain des enfants et des adolescents. Les objectifs nationaux pour le developpement sain des enfants et des adolescents.

This document details Canada's mission to safeguard and improve the health and well-being of all Canadian children and youth and presents eight national goals through which Canada plans to fulfill that mission. The document is presented in three parts. Part 1 describes the development of national goals, including their origin in the underlying principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a consideration of a broad view of child and adolescent health, the responsibility of federal governments acting on behalf of the public, the 4-year consultation process used to develop the goals, and the results of reviews by aboriginal communities in Canada. Part 2 of the document details eight national goals: (1) value all children and youth in Canada and share responsibility for their healthy development; (2) support families in their role as the primary caregivers of children; (3) make health promotion and prevention of disease, disability, and injury among children and youth a priority of healthy public policies; (4) reduce child and youth poverty; (5) protect children and youth from abuse, violence, inequity, and discrimination; (6) ensure that young people have opportunities to participate in decisions about their healthy development and encourage them to make healthy life choices; (7) strengthen the capacity of communities to promote and improve healthy child and youth development; and (8) develop collaborative, cost-effective strategies to achieve measurable improvements in health outcomes for children and youth. Part 3 of the document describes initiatives at the community, provincial, and federal levels to meet these national goals. (KB)