DossierCanada — who sits and votes in Canada's Parliament
Challenged bills
✋ Challenge a billFederal MPs
Who represents you, how they vote, how often they sit.
The federal Cabinet
Who decides what, since when, and how they vote.
Up to date. These ministers come directly from the official Cabinet page on pm.gc.ca, scraped live — not a hand-maintained list.
S-212 — An Act respecting a national strategy for children and youth in Canada
Every bill summarized in plain language. Not clear enough? Ask for an explanation.
S-212
An Act respecting a national strategy for children and youth in Canada
ISG
In progress
▾
BILL S-212
An Act respecting a national strategy for children and youth in Canada
Last activity : At second reading in the House of Commons
ISG
In progress
Senate · 1st2025-05-27Senate · 2nd2025-06-18Senate · 3rd2026-03-10Commons · 1st2026-03-12Commons · 2ndCommons · 3rdRoyal assent
Sign-in required — one request per person, no anonymous requests
What it does, in plain language
- Requires the federal government to develop a national strategy for children and youth in Canada.
- Sets mandatory goals for the strategy: fully eliminating child poverty, ensuring a high and consistent standard of living nationwide, and complying fully with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, its two optional protocols and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
- Requires the strategy to include measurable indicators, an evidence-based assessment of results, a detailed plan for goals not yet met, and an estimate of the resources needed.
- Calls for mechanisms allowing public monitoring, ongoing consultation, updates to the strategy, a way for children and youth to file complaints, and parliamentary oversight.
- Requires consultation with children and youth themselves, federal ministers (including Health, Justice and Crown-Indigenous Relations), provincial and municipal governments, Indigenous governing bodies, and organizations serving young people.
- Requires consideration of Canada's human rights obligations, Jordan's Principle, the Inuit Child First Initiative, and recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
- Sets a progress report to Parliament every six months, tabling of the strategy within 24 months of royal assent, and online publication within 10 days of tabling.
- Requires a follow-up report on implementation and results every five years, tabled in Parliament within its first 15 sitting days after completion.
🤖 AI-generated from the bill’s official text as introduced — may not reflect amendments adopted since.
✋ What does “challenging” mean?
Clicking “Ask for an explanation” is a citizen request for the bill's sponsor to explain it in plain language — and for us to keep an eye on it together.
An account (email) is required — one request per person, no anonymous requests. 🔥 At 1,000 requests on the same bill, a public post is made, in the hope an MP agrees to sponsor a petition to the House.
It works on any bill, including one that has already received royal assent — that is often the one people want to understand.
Votes in the Commons
Every recorded vote — who voted what, and by what margin.
On the “who voted what” detail — the House of Commons publishes each member's name for every recorded (nominal) vote (Yea / Nay / paired). The by-member breakdown above (the "+" button on each row) comes directly from that official source (ourcommons.ca), not an estimate. The party shown next to each name is taken from the current House roster; people who have since left the House appear separately under "Former members".
How to read a vote
Recorded vote
Members vote one by one and each choice is entered in the public record. That is what lets us say exactly who voted what — no interpretation.
Passed is not law
A passed vote clears ONE stage. A bill must pass both chambers and then receive royal assent before it becomes law.
Paired is not absent
In the Commons, two members from opposing sides can agree not to vote: their voices cancel out. It is neither an absence nor an abstention.
DossierCanada updates
What changed on the site, newest first
Hi! My name is
Martin Archambault
I'm 45, and dossiercanada.ca is your first step into democracy!
If we want people to understand politics, it has to be brought down to their level.
When I first tried to take an interest in it, on top of not knowing the jargon, bills came as two lines… and fifty PDFs. Most people would simply walk away.
So I had an idea: use artificial intelligence first to read through all of it, then to put it in plain words. That's how DossierCanada was born.
Alongside the AI recap, I've given people a lexicon that explains the basics of political jargon. Plain-language law exists — think of this as its equivalent for politics!
Parliament glossary
Parliamentary jargon, translated into everyday language.
Account and follows