Join us June 9 and 10 at the LRCY Conference!
How can lawyers and advocates better represent the young people they serve?
Join us for the OCYA's Best Practices in Child Legal Representation Conference on June 9 and 10, 2026, at the River Cree Resort & Casino, proudly located on Treaty Six Territories in Enoch!
The 2026 theme, “Promoting Excellence in Child Legal Representation: Elevating Standards, Empowering Voices,” highlights our commitment to empowering young people’s rights.
We invite lawyers, judges, social workers, educators, law students, and Indigenous partners to connect and share insights. Together, let’s amplify the voices of young people and ensure their rights are upheld.
The conference is hosted by Alberta's provincial Child and Youth Advocate, Terri Pelton.
Registration
We will be opening registration in the coming days.
Stay tuned for updates and exciting conference details!
See more information here.
We will be opening registration in the coming days.
Stay tuned for updates and exciting conference details!
See more information here.
Land Acknowledgement
We are grateful for the opportunity to gather on Enoch Cree Nation, within Treaty 6 Territory. We respectfully acknowledge the Elders – past, present, and emerging – and the peoples who have cared for and lived on this land since time immemorial.
Alberta is the traditional and ancestral home of many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. Treaty 6 is home to the Nehiyaw (Cree), Denesuliné (Dene), Nakota Sioux (Stoney), Anishinaabe Saulteaux), Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Îyâxe Nakoda (Stoney), and Tsuut’ina Nations, the Metis Settlements, the Métis Nation of Alberta, and the many Indigenous communities who continue to shape this region.
We honour their histories, cultures, and ongoing contributions. We recognize the privilege of being able to work, live, and gather on these lands, and we commit ourselves to learning from and supporting the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors have walked here for generations.
Alberta is the traditional and ancestral home of many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. Treaty 6 is home to the Nehiyaw (Cree), Denesuliné (Dene), Nakota Sioux (Stoney), Anishinaabe Saulteaux), Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Îyâxe Nakoda (Stoney), and Tsuut’ina Nations, the Metis Settlements, the Métis Nation of Alberta, and the many Indigenous communities who continue to shape this region.
We honour their histories, cultures, and ongoing contributions. We recognize the privilege of being able to work, live, and gather on these lands, and we commit ourselves to learning from and supporting the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors have walked here for generations.
About the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate
We represent the rights, interests and viewpoints of Alberta children and youth who receive intervention services or who are involved with the youth justice system. The Child and Youth Advocate Act provides the mandate for our work with vulnerable young people in Alberta.
Advocacy at the OCYA includes a number of activities that are aimed at ensuring the rights, interests and viewpoints of Alberta’s vulnerable children and youth are affirmed and acted upon. These activities include:
Advocacy at the OCYA includes a number of activities that are aimed at ensuring the rights, interests and viewpoints of Alberta’s vulnerable children and youth are affirmed and acted upon. These activities include:
- Providing education on the rights, interest and viewpoints of children and youth,
- Reporting to Alberta’s Legislature on any matter related to the rights, interests and well-being of children and youth involved in designated services,
- Communicating on the work of the office, including systemic issues that are affecting vulnerable children and youth,
- Engaging with children and youth, their communities and others to collaborate on ways in which to address issues affecting children and youth,
- Conducting research related to improving designated services,
- Conducting investigations into systemic issues arising from the serious injury to or death of a child or youth receiving designated services,
- Advocating on behalf of individual children and youth receiving designated services,
- Providing legal representation to children and youth receiving services under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act or the Protection of Sexually Exploited Children Act.