Project Sunbeam:
Kids’ Rights in Canadian Media

What is Project Sunbeam?

Project Sunbeam: Kids’ Rights in Canadian Media is a landmark white paper commissioned by Rocket Fund Canada that examines how Canada can put the rights and needs of children and youth at the centre of how their media is created, funded and governed.

Led by children’s media researcher and industry veteran Kim Wilson, the year-long consultation and research process resulted in a white paper including 5 sections with a total of 49 Key Findings, 137 Supporting Findings and 36 Recommendations.

Drawing on research across industry, policy, education, technology, and families, the study explores the future of children’s media in Canada and provides insights and recommendations to help guide policy, industry strategy, and the continued creation of Canadian stories for young audiences.

As part of Team Canada, we encourage you to submit your feedback on the white paper using the form below, or by emailing info@rocketfund.ca.

Summary of actions and recommendations

Action 1: Treat Children And Youth As The Rights Holders They Are

• Build Children’s Rights in How Canada Funds, Governs and Makes Media
• Establish a permanent federal Minister of Children and Youth
• Establish a Commissioner of Children and Youth

Action 2: Create A Protected Children’s And Youth Media Fund With New Architecture

• Establish a Permanent, Protected, Two-Track Media Fund For Children and Youth

Action 3: Treat Discoverability And Audience Development As Part Of The Investment

• Fund Audience Development and Discovery Throughout a Project’s Life
• Create an Outreach Strategy for Canadian Families to Connect with Canadian Content in their Communities
• A National Day of Canadian Children’s and Youth Media
• Launch dedicated, government-led, English and French-language Canadian children’s and youth YouTube channels, with the goal of adding more languages.
• A Nationally Recognized Canadian Content Identifier for Children’s and Youth Media
• Make Schools a Discovery Channel for Canadian Children’s and Youth Content

Action 4: Build Canada’s Capacity To Understand Childhood As It Changes

• Establish a National Children’s Media Lab Network, a permanent, bilingual, and independently-governed national infrastructure for understanding how children and youth watch, play, listen, create, and discover media; ensuring children and youth have meaningful input into decisions that affect them; and strengthening durable, public accountability for child rights and developmental needs.

Action 5: Make Platforms And AI Accountable To Children’s Rights And Development

• Establish governance specific to Canadian children and youth for AI and digital design that brings together development, rights, privacy, safety, culture, language, participation, and accountability.
• Place accountability on the organizations that design, deploy, fund, regulate and operate digital platforms and AI, not on the children and families that use them.
• Implement a Canadian Children’s and Youth AI Code

Action 6: Protect Cultural Continuity Through Francophone and Indigenous Media Pathways and Public Broadcasting

• Create a protected Francophone allocation within the new Children’s and Youth Media Fund
• Support an Indigenous-led children’s and youth media pathway through a partnership between the new children’s and youth fund and the Indigenous Screen Office
• Protect and renew public broadcasters’ children’s and youth mandates

Download the full report for more details.