Celebrating 20 Years: Landon Pearson Centre

Landon Pearson Centre for the Study of Childhood and Children’s Rights at Carleton University Celebrates 20 Years 2006-2026

Join us as we celebrate the Landon Pearson Centre's 20 year anniversary! As Canada’s longest-standing children’s rights centre, the LPC is a recognized leader in advancing children’s rights through research, education, policy and practice.

This special event launches a year-long series of celebrations and conversations marking the Centre’s 20 years and its enduring contributions to building the architecture of children's rights in Canada and internationally.

For two decades, the Centre has championed a rights-respecting approach grounded in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child , ensuring that children’s lived experiences inform and influence the decisions that affect their lives, and drive meaningful, lasting change.

This gathering will bring together leaders in children’s rights research, policy, advocacy, and practice — alongside children and young people themselves — to reflect on the progress made over the past twenty years and to explore pathways forward at a moment of profound global instability and unprecedented challenges for children worldwide.

The program features distinguished international and Canadian guests, including Dr. Susan Bissell, former Chief of Child Protection at UNICEF International and newly appointed Member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors; Dr. Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and leading advocate for equitable services for First Nations children and families; and Gerison Lansdown, internationally recognized child rights scholar, advocate, author, and key contributor to several General Comments to the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as to drafting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

A highlight of the celebration will be powerful contributions from children and young people whose work appears in a Special Issue of the Canadian Journal of Children’s Rights. Guest editors Senator Margo Greenwood and Dr. Karen Graham, will release the Issue as part of the event.

We invite you to join us for inspiring and timely conversations about children’s rights in Canada and beyond.

Event Details June 1, 2026

Location:

Reception to follow. Everyone is welcome!

For more information contact: [email protected]

Info: Panel discussion with Dr. Susan Bissell, former Chief of Child Protection at UNICEF International and newly appointed Member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors; Dr. Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and leading advocate for equitable services for First Nations children and families; and Gerison Lansdown, internationally recognized child rights scholar, advocate, author, and key contributor to several General Comments to the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as to drafting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Info: This Special Issue titled "Children’s Rights Across Generations: Lived experience and the transformative power of intergenerational engagement" will be released by guest editors Senator Margo Greenwood and Dr. Karen Graham.
Children and young people whose work appears in the Journal Issue will participate including Haya with Wala Azimi, Annabel and Harriett with Karen Graham, Everly and Elizabeth with Janessa, and Madilyn Melanson.

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