Child maltreatment in Canada: an understudied public health problem

Child maltreatment is a major public health problem associated with impairment in childhood, adolescence, and extending throughout the lifespan. Within Canada, high-quality child maltreatment studies have been conducted and are critical for informing prevention and intervention efforts. However, compared to other parts of the world (e.g., United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Mexico), the number of studies conducted in Canada is far fewer and the data used to study this important public health problem are less diverse. Importantly, to date, representative data on child maltreatment from the general population at the national level in Canada do not exist. This means that many questions regarding child maltreatment in Canada remain unanswered. To advance our understanding of child maltreatment in Canada and to make significant strides towards protecting Canadian children and families, research using Canadian data is essential. To begin to meet these important public health goals, we need to invest in collecting high-quality, nationally representative Canadian data on child maltreatment. Solutions for the barriers and challenges for the inclusion of child maltreatment data into nationally representative Canadian surveys are provided.