Irwin Elman, the provincial advocate for children and youth, will present “Children’s Voice: The Right to Participate as Best Practice (and what it has to do with salad dressing)” as part of the third annual Alexander F. Chamberlain Speaker Series hosted by York University’s Children’s Studies Program.
The talk will take place Tuesday, March 12, at 2:30pm in The Renaissance Room, 001 Vanier College, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. 
An informal reception will follow the presentation.
Irwin Elman
“Our first Chamberlain talk was presented by Cindy Blackstock on ‘First Nations Children’s Rights in Canada’; our second talk was by members of Jamaica Youth Theatre on ‘Youth, Consciousness, & the Arts’; and now, we welcome Irwin Elman, the provincial advocate for children and youth, to address our faculty and students and other interested members of the York community,” said Peter Cumming, coordinator of the Children’s Studies Program in the Department of Humanities, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.
Elman became Ontario’s first independent provincial advocate for children and youth in 2008. Since then his duties have included providing an independent voice for children and youth, including First Nations children and youth and children with special needs; encouraging communication and understanding between children and families and those who provide them with services; and educating children, youth and their caregivers regarding the rights of children and youth. For more information, visit the Office of the Provincial Advocate website.
Elman’s advocacy and work in relation to children’s rights will be of vital interest not only to faculty and students in the Children’s Studies Program, but also to those in education, social work, psychology, nursing, disability studies, international development, human rights and equity studies, multicultural and Indigenous studies – in short, to anyone concerned about children, youth and their rights, says Cumming.
“A study of children’s rights is at the core of York’s Children’s Studies Program. We are thrilled, then, that the provincial advocate for children and youth will deliver our 2013 Chamberlain talk, as his office works daily with children and youth in Ontario, advocating for the rights enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,” he says.
For more information about the Alexander F. Chamberlain Speaker Series, contact Peter Cumming, coordinator of the Children’s Studies Program, at cummingp@yorku.ca or 416-736-2100 ext. 60498.