Question Period Note: Children's health in the context of COVID-19

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• The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the lives of families in Canada. To support a full recovery for families and children more information is required to fully understand the negative impacts of the pandemic and to identify strategies to support the needs of children moving forward.
• Research is central to Canada’s ability to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and to support the evolving needs of Canadians.
• To date, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, or CIHR, has invested $415 million on 965 research projects for research to support the Government of Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This includes collaborating with partners to support 70 projects that will help fill gaps in information related to the long-term effects of COVID-19 on children, including the negative effect the pandemic has had on the mental health of children, including those from historically excluded or underserved populations.
• Just last month, CIHR spurred the creation of a new pediatric COVID-19 research platform, led by Dr. Caroline Quach at the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine in Montreal. This platform will support 16 research sites in pediatric hospitals across the country and will facilitate the sharing of COVID-19 information between these sites to ensure a coordinated research response.
• These responses will help support the full recovery of children and families from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental and physical well-being of children, youth and their families.

As part of the government’s continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), has invested $415 million in COVID-19 research since March 2020. This research spans everything from diagnostics and potential treatments to public health responses and communication strategies. In December 2021, the Government announced an investment of $13.7 million in 89 new COVID-19 research projects across the country. This includes 70 projects focused on understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children, youth and families.

Some of the key investments made in research on this topic since the start of the pandemic include:

In March 2022, the Government of Canada through CIHR launched a Canadian Pediatric COVID-19 Research Platform. This $6.7 million investment establishes a central coordination and collaboration hub to increase the availability of high-quality and real-time evidence to support research on the effectiveness and relative safety of the COVID-19 vaccines in children and youth. The Pediatric Outcome Improvement through Coordination of Research Networks (POPCORN) will be ed by Dr. Caroline Quach at the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine in Montreal. POPCORN will support 16 research sites in pediatric hospitals across the country.

In June 2021, CIHR funded the grant Understanding and Mitigating the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children, Youth and Families in Canada. The $3.6 million investment supported research projects that will be conducted across Canada that focus on the particular impacts of the pandemic on children. Of note this initiative was specifically designed to understand the impacts of changes or disruptions to supports, services, programs and the environment of children all of which can have direct and indirect effects on the physical and mental wellbeing of children.

Indigenous children are at much higher risk of emotional and mental health issues than their non-Indigenous peers. This is why a stream of the Understanding and Mitigating the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children, Youth and Families in Canada was specifically dedicated to Indigenous children and families. This included research on a strengths-based approach to optimize post-pandemic resilience and the conceptualization of risk and health through an Indigenous-led approach.

CIHR recently launched in March, 2022, the Mental Health in the Early Years Implementation Science Team Grants to support research to study mental health in the early years. As part of this program, an additional consideration will be placed on the COVID-19 pandemic, which has amplified health, social and structural inequalities of children.

Furthermore, CIHR has invested $13.5 million in the COVID-19 and Mental Health Initiative, to support research to provide timely evidence to decision makers on mental health and substance use responses in the context of COVID-19. This broader initiative included a dedicated stream to support research on the mental health of children, youth and families.

As we continue to progress and look forward to a post-pandemic recovery for all Canadians it is important to acknowledge that continued and long-term research is needed to understand the long-lasting impacts of the pandemic on all Canadians. This is why Budget 2022 has proposed investments of $20 million over five years to CIHR to support additional research on the long-term effects of COVID-19 infections on Canadians, as well as the wider impacts of COVID-19 on health and health care systems. This new investment will enable CIHR to invest in research to better understand the long-term health impacts of COVID-19, including the effects of long COVID on different groups, notably vulnerable populations and children.

• CIHR is investing $6.7 million into a new pediatric COVID-19 research platform, Pediatric Outcome Improvement through Coordination of Research Networks (or POPCORN), led by Dr. Caroline Quach at the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine in Montreal. POPCORN will support 16 research sites in pediatric hospitals across the country.
• Budget 2022 announced $20 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, for CIHR to support additional research on the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 infections on Canadians, including children and youth.