The 2004 document was an official government publication that laid out many things the federal government felt it had done, was doing and would do in the future towards the implementation of UNCRC, and to improving the lives of children in Canada. In the 2015 document, Landon Pearson is writing as a private citizen, and evaluating the years between the two documents in terms of Canada's accomplishments. Unfortunately, the conclusion is that, in 2015, efforts had stalled. Not only had progress stalled, the intervening years had resulted in new challenges which will make progress and implementation of UNCRC more expensive and more difficult and therefore, require more political will.
There has been a political shift since September 11, 2001 that has resulted in less emphasis on children and Human Rights in general, and more on security and economics. Government changes have resulted in philosophical changes that have supported smaller government, (in theory), and more conservative views on children, families and the role of the federal government in relation to them. Ideas such as universal child care, and financial assistance for impoverished children and families have been relegated to the rear of the governmental agenda. Even when programmes have been developed, they often offer more to middle or upper class citizens than to those in poverty. Schools are to be concentrating more on academic skills and address social issues less, a return to the 3 Rs. Criminal justice is less about rights and more about punishment and accountability. Rehabilitation and social programmes are replaced by punishment.
The 2015 document identified all of the ways in which Canadian society has actually moved further from the ideals of the UNCRC and the more optimistic picture of the 2004 document. It also provides a map for where it would be good to go, how to change the situation, but it remains a pessimistic follow up to the earlier version.