Aid groups ask Canada to prevent child soldiers by rallying G7 heads around education

OTTAWA — Canada’s aid sector is rallying around a call for Ottawa to use its place on the world stage to promote education as a way of shoring up global security.

Canada is hosting the G7 leaders’ summit this June in Alberta and typically the host makes an international development pledge.

Aid groups and Canadian senators have joined to ask Canada to use that opportunity to champion “peace, education and security.”

They are focusing on how Canada can bolster security at home by preventing youth from being recruited by armed groups.