I am pleased to rise today to table this petition with over 230 signatures, collected by COPE 527, which represents education workers in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. These education workers are deeply concerned about the rates of violence within our schools, which they note are shockingly high, and that many education workers are suffering profound injuries, and yet many of these injuries are going unreported.

But we also know that increasing the number of educational workers in our schools and in our classrooms would help to reduce the levels of violence, making sure that there are enough adults to provide care, that children are not being frustrated and that their needs aren’t going unmet. So the petitioners call upon the Legislature to increase the number of education workers in classrooms across Ontario.

I am very proud to support this petition, will add my name to it and will send it to the table with page Simon.

This petition, signed by around 300 of 7,000 signatures, is in support of stronger mental health services in the province of Ontario. It’s a petition that was inspired by the Roth family, who lost their daughter Kaitlyn to suicide.

Kaitlyn didn’t fit into the mental health services and supports that exist in the province of Ontario. She sought help. She wanted help. She wanted to get better, but at the end of the day, she was turned away and/or received insufficient or improper mental health supports.

This petition really calls on greater training, targeted funding, specifically asking the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions to earmark funding for training to ensure that when people have enough courage to come forward, to request help in very difficult circumstances, that help is there for them.

It’s in honour of Kaitlyn Roth. It is my pleasure to affix my signature and call on the government to address the mental health crisis in Ontario.

Miss Surma moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 151, An Act to amend various statutes regarding infrastructure / Projet de loi 151, Loi modifiant diverses lois relatives aux infrastructures.