Member for Hamilton Mountain and the member for Waterloo will please come to order.

Supplementary.

Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Minister of Colleges and Universities.

It is always a pleasure and an honour to be able to stand in this place to speak on behalf of the people of Hamilton Mountain. And it is always of my utmost honour to be able to stand as the official opposition critic for children, community and social services and to truly raise the voices of children in this province.

I have had the honour of serving mainly in this role since my time of election in 2011, and I had many opportunities to work with youth in various capacities under this role. One of the first things that I did shortly after being elected was to attend youth leaving care hearings. That was one of the most powerful beginnings to my career and to my opportunity as the child critic, to truly witness the voices of young people in care, to witness their ability to use their voices to talk about things that they needed; to talk to their parents, as the government, for things that needed changes, for things that needed to be implemented, for things to make their lives better as young people within the system of children’s aid. They came out with a report called My Real Life Book back in the day, and I believe it was—it was 2011 when I was first elected, and I think it was literally shortly after I was elected that all of that work was being done.

Let’s not forget and give full credit to the child advocate’s office, who empowered young people to have their say, to be able to raise their voice, to have courage to bring their voice in whichever way they found suitable, whether it be through art, whether it be through music, whether it be through spoken words—so many different, various ways that young people were able to bring their voice to adults who were responsible for them during that time. The child advocate’s office had done so much of that amazing work, and I benefited greatly from his office and from the young people whom he served in this province. It was a remarkable office that spanned the entire province, and every child in this province could find themselves seen within his office. Whether it was LGBTQS+, whether it was Indigenous, whether it was a child with a disability, whether it was a child in care, ethnic children—whatever it was, every child could find themselves within that office.

Unfortunately, Speaker, one of the first measures that the Ford government did in 2018 was to close that office—and in such a quick stroke, close that office. The advocate himself found out in an airplane from a news broadcast, a newspaper that he was reading, or something that happened. He was completely caught off guard that the office was going to close and the provincial advocate would be no more.

And then the member from—let me just get the right riding—Nepean was the minister at that time and claimed that she was going to be the child advocate. And that, we have seen, turned into an awful mess and, really, the children of this province were left with no advocate and, really, someone who was in government that had their back.

Once again, I want to remind the government that they are the parents of children in care. It is their responsibility to take care of children in care. They are the only opportunity that a child in care would have to flourish. So when we have children’s aid societies who are the parents, it’s really bad when they don’t have the funding to be able to house them accordingly, when they’re putting kids in hotel rooms because there are no homes for them to be in. We have kids who are coming into care with critical, complex needs, and children’s aid societies are literally putting them in hotel rooms, trying to find places to be able to help them through their journey.

We have parents who are forfeiting their rights of their children to care because they need mental health supports, and parents have gone through everything they possibly can to find those supports in our communities, to no end. As a parent, they think, “Well, if I can’t find it in my community, I will certainly be able to hand over my child or my teenager to the children’s aid societies, and they will be able to get them the help.” But that is not the case.

The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services does not work hand in hand with the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health holds all the purse strings for mental health, and we see a continued growing wait-list for children in the province of Ontario with mental health needs—a wait-list that is booming to, I believe, 30,000 kids waiting for services. And that last number, still pretty high—I think it’s pretty outdated. That was a two-and-a-half-year wait.

And then add COVID on top of that, and the stunt in growth, really, from so many young people, the isolation—everything that came with COVID that we felt as adults. Imagine that compounded on young people in this province who were not able to get the help that they needed. They’re still not able to get that help, and we’re still seeing parents not being able to get what they need for their kids and still forfeiting the rights of their children to the children’s aid societies, who are just not able to get the same services that those parents were looking for too. So there is a lot that goes into a young person being in the child welfare system, typically, of course, of no fault of their own, but really looking to their parents to have those answers for them.

The stuff that’s in this legislation today is a step in the right direction. There is absolutely no doubt about it, and I want to give thanks where thanks is due, to the Child Welfare PAC folks who really have worked hard on this. Jane Kovarikova, who has become the chief of staff for the minister, led that group and, I believe, initiated that group and got it started. Being a former youth in care herself, she knew that there were problems in care. She knew that there were things that could be done if you get on the inside and do the work.

Many people in our communities are out there and they’re banging on doors and they’re banging on windows to talk about the things that are wrong, but Jane found her way in as a very young person, as a student, to a Conservative MPP’s office many years ago and continued to stay in that position, knowing that the way to make change is from the inside out.

So congratulations, Jane, because I know that this legislation is only in front of us because you took your journey and you continued to push and you gathered people around you—all of the amazing advocates; some are smiling down at me right now. I appreciate you and the work that you have done. I thank you for that work, and children in our province will thank you for the work when it’s time to affect them.

I know a big part of the legislation stems around the fact that when you’ve been a youth in care—and the minister went through this—you are not allowed to become an advocate, so you had to sign forms to be able to speak on behalf of yourself, as a former child in care. Part of this legislation is going to change that to ensure that former youth in care can speak for themselves; they are allowed to tell stories, they are allowed to work for change, because they were definitely put under the gun several times when it came to all of the work that they were doing as PAC advocates—I can’t find it; it’s fine. That’s the base of one piece of it.

The other piece is that a children’s aid worker, for whatever reason, could search a former youth in care’s file and have every bit of information accessible to them. This could hurt somebody when they go for a job interview or a police record check, if they want to be a children’s aid worker, if they want to be a social worker, if they want to do any of these things. All of their file would be open to anybody who could just punch in their name within the system, and that is absolutely wrong.

I cannot imagine that anybody could just type my name into a file and find out that I smoked cigarettes on the corner and my mom caught me when I was 12.

Imagine that concept—that a person in their adult years could be held accountable for what the 12-, 13-, 14- 15-year-old child inside them did, how many fights they had with their parent, or if they ran away from home? That should not change the outcome or the fact of who they are as an adult. So I’m happy to see those changes reflected in this bill. People deserve protection. They deserve privacy. They don’t deserve to be dragged through the mud or to be held on a different level for something that they did as a young, teenage person. So I’m really happy to see this legislation that supports that work.

Again, congratulations to the PAC for all of the work, advocating for years. For years, they have been visiting, and I know I’ve been visiting with them for so many years, talking about this work. Jane found herself in the minister’s office once again and was able to push it through and to get it done, so that’s absolutely great.

A declaration—that’s what they had to sign; it was a declaration. I knew I’d find the word eventually. I’ve got a lot of paper over here, because there are definitely a lot of pieces that I want to be able to talk about today.

The other piece that is a really important piece is the group home licences. I just want to go back on a little journey of horrific, horrific situations that we have heard time and time again in this Legislature, that we have read news accounts for, that we have seen in our communities, that have hit our communities, that have torn the hearts out of communities, torn the hearts out of families—the death of young people in group homes in this province—and it has happened much too often and on such severe rates. We see for-profit group homes that are responsible for taking care of our children, who have been, really, fed to the wolves. They have been what has been called cash cows. They have been neglected. They have been abused. They have been drugged. They have been locked in rooms. They have been restrained. They have seen every horror that we can imagine, as a child, and yet they were put there for protection. There can be nothing more tragic than a child who has been taken into protection under the government and has seen that abuse, died by that abuse, or lived to tell about the abuse, with trauma that they must live with day in and day out.

There have been several stories by these for-profit homes that are horrendous. The hardest part is that this has been happening for decades. We have seen these tragedies go on and on and on. In 2017—I was just trying to look up articles for stories to bring to the floor today, because there is nothing more appealing than a true-life story of real lives, of what has happened in these situations. I wanted to bring a few of them to the floor today.

And the dates—2017; we’re seven years later and we’re just getting to this. And if it wasn’t for Jane and PAC really pushing hard to get the legislation that she wanted, would we see this here today? I have to question that.

We’ve been calling this stuff out and begging for help. And a minister who continues to say, “Leave no child behind,” and a minister before him who said the same, and a minister before that who called herself the greatest advocate that this province would ever see—that was in 2018, that that started with this government. Like I said, the first thing they did was get rid of the child’s greatest champion in this province, who was truly the provincial advocate’s office.

May 15, 2017: “Foster Home Fire that Killed Teen, Caregiver Blamed on Bolted Door....

“On a Friday afternoon in February, a raging fire swept through a foster home near Lindsay, Ont., trapping a 14-year-old resident and two caregivers in a second-floor bedroom.

“The teenager, Kassy Finbow, and one of the caregivers, Andrea Reid, were killed.

“‘My daughter was supposed to be in a safe place and, in the end, it’s what took her precious life,’ Kassy’s distraught mother, Chantal Finbow, told the Star. ‘Kassy was a beautiful young lady with so much potential.’

“A sliding glass door in the room in which Kassy and Reid were found was bolted shut, the Star has learned. And the only window—in a gable off the roof—was too small for the surviving caregiver to escape. She was saved by firefighters who smashed through the window’s upper sash, according to the foster home’s operator, Bob Connor....

“The deaths have triggered multiple investigations about lax or non-existent provincial standards governing group homes and foster homes run by private companies. The OPP, Queen’s Park, children’s aid and Ontario’s child and youth advocate are finding plenty of blame to go around.

“The Ministry of Children and Youth Services, responsible for licensing and inspecting these homes, is under fire for failing to adequately monitor and for being slow to improve the quality of care.”

I just want to remind everyone: That was May 2017, seven years ago. There was plenty of blame to go around. We’re just getting to it now.

“Both group homes and foster homes serve children and youth taken for their protection from parents by children’s aid societies, or sent there by parents for treatment due to mental health or behavioural issues.

“The similarities end there. Foster homes are capped at four children, while group homes typically serve eight or more. Foster homes also face far less stringent licensing requirements and fire code regulations.”

This is the next part I’d highlight: Irwin Elman, who was the provincial advocate, said that he considers them a dangerous symbol of the “power and control model” of residential care. “It’s about managing kids’ behaviour,” he said. Elman added that he repeatedly warned the ministry and fire marshal about them, with no result.

“‘It wasn’t safe,’ an exasperated Elman said of the foster home that burned down. ‘For young people, it just all adds up to, “Nobody cares, unless we die.”‘”

That’s from Irwin, and that’s an article from May 15, 2017.

I also found this article that talks about Kassy’s mom. She said, in this article:

“She’s had a lot of aggression, since the age of about five. And as she grew older she became more and more violent, towards myself and her brother as well as a lot of property damage to the home. We had exhausted all agencies for help and nothing got better. By the age of 12 she had became unmanageable at home.

“And so I reached out for help from Durham Children’s Aid Society as other agencies had not helped in the past. Both CAS and I decided maybe it would be best to put her in a group home and have a full assessment done.

“She was in care for a total of two and a half years before the fire. During that time she never got the full assessment that she needed. She continued to get worse, very violent and charged numerous times, and constantly running away—and for those reasons she had to be bounced around in the system.”

Then she ended up in the Connor Homes and they “thought this would be a great opportunity for her to get better as it was a smaller setting and out in the middle of nowhere. She was there for about six months but during that time we had seen great improvement and for the first time ... I had hope that she would return home at some point ...

“I really think the system needs an overhaul. This is why I decided to at least speak out via email. My daughter was supposed to be in a safe place and, in the end, it’s what took her precious life. In my opinion they should have more places for children with mental health and more separate places for violent children or behavioral issues. They are not the same needs and so they should be separate ...

“To make it clear, Kassy was never removed from the home—I reached out to CAS for help.”

She reached out for help, and the system didn’t help her. The government didn’t help her. The system failed her every step of the way. They failed her when she was five. They failed her when she was six. They failed her when she was 10. They failed her when she was 12. And they certainly failed her when she was 16, when she was put into a home owned by a private operator who locked doors and bolted windows.

And a staff person died on the same day. That person worked within a facility, went to work and never came home to her family because she was put into an unsafe working condition.

This is not a system that leaves no child behind. When the minister gets all “no child is left behind”—which he says about every child in this province—it hurts me to know there are so many children left behind in the province.

So a couple of little things within a bill that is seven years too late—it kind of gets me, and we all know that I’m a passionate person and I kind of get emotional about things. But that’s what our jobs are to do—is to protect these kids.

There is nothing more valuable, there is no resource more valuable in this province, in this country, than our children. And when we do not invest proactively in our children, we see children who end up in care—mostly not by their fault or by their parents’ fault or anything other than the fault of the system that they can’t get through. They can’t get mental health supports; they can’t get safe living conditions when they so desperately need them.

No parent wants to give over their kid, but they’re literally forfeiting their children in hopes that they’re going to get services that they can’t get on their own. That’s not okay.

As a province, we really should be leaving no child behind. And as a government that likes to talk a good game, they can do a lot better.

Interruption.

I want to thank the member for Hamilton Mountain for her work, for a very long time, as our child critic.

I want to read into the record and just get the member’s response to remarks made by the great Cindy Blackstock, who, in 2016, when the federal government lost a human rights tribunal case, said the following—I’m wondering if there’s an echo in her remarks this afternoon.

Ms. Blackstock said, “Nothing the government can do can make up for the wrongs it consciously perpetrated against kids. And I want to emphasize that it was conscious. It wasn’t an accident.”

The report went on to say that while the federal government may be responsible, “funding at least 93% of on-reserve child welfare, the Ontario government created the system where these children died and provides the law within which the child welfare agencies operate.”

I’m just wondering if the member for Hamilton Mountain has any reaction to that.

The member for Hamilton Mountain spoke about what previous governments did or didn’t do. I was wondering if she could speak about the Ontario Child Advocate’s office, an independent office of this Legislature. It was created in 2008 under the previous government and was cancelled by this government. I was wondering if she could speak about that fact and its connection to the needs that she has spoken about eloquently in her speech and the need for this bill.

I want to thank the member from Hamilton Mountain for her debate on Bill 188, Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024.

It’s no secret that these private, for-profit group homes call their clients, the children in their care, cash cows. That is, quite frankly, revealing of what kind of intention there is when businesses are actually caring for children—it’s a business.

One of the examples I want to bring forward is Expanding Horizons. Back in 2021, the company’s legal counsel surrendered its law licence to the Law Society of Ontario after admitting to a tribunal in 2018 they had misappropriated nearly $500,000 from clients.

How can strengthening the oversight in a non-profit system for group homes help this kind of financial abuse be stopped?

Thank you to my colleague from Hamilton Mountain for her opposition leadoff on the debate this afternoon for Bill 188.

The bill proposes a modern and flexible suite of tools that will empower the ministry inspectors to improve compliance rates among insured providers of out-of-home care to children and youth—at a higher rate of compliance—that would mean young people in out-of-home care receive a consistently higher quality of care that is safe, supportive and responsive to their needs.

Does the member opposite support stronger oversight and accountability for those providing care for Ontario’s most vulnerable young people?