Our paper Estimating the number and percentage of children who experience parental incarceration in Canada using whole population administrative and vital statistics data made news headlines in The Star (Toronto) and McMaster University’s website when it was published in April 2026.
Parental incarceration is recognized as an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), and previous research shows that children who experience parental incarceration tend to have worse physical and mental health compared to children who have not experienced parental incarceration.
This research study estimated the number and proportion of children who experienced parental incarceration between 2015 and 2021 in five Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.
Action is needed to prevent parental incarceration and to support the children and families who are affected by parental incarceration in Canada.
“Parental incarceration is not only a criminal justice concern – it constitutes a fundamental violation of children’s rights, disrupting family bonds and fueling intergenerational trauma. Closing the evidence gap is urgently needed to measure and mitigate the harms of this critical adverse childhood experience,” ~ Christine Bentley-Wang, co-author and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University.
“We need to identify these children, we need to care about these children, and we need to dedicate resources to these kids, the first step to do that is to acknowledge that they exist.” ~ Martha Paynter, co-author and associate professor in the Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of New Brunswick.