Thank you to the member opposite for your presentation.

I would like to draw attention to some feedback that the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies gave on this bill. While the overall intent of the bill is certainly supportable and there are some wise changes here, the society raised the issue of how we stop children from ending up in this situation in the first place.

What steps is this government looking at taking to ensure that children don’t need to end up in care?

I thank the member for his presentation.

Like my colleague said, it is very important to keep people out of the care system in the first place.

The member referred to investments in mental health care as a way of keeping children safe and in a situation where they can stay at home.

Could you tell us what scale of funds are being invested and what results have been seen from the work that you’ve done to this point?

Thank you to the member for the presentation.

I think the point of this bill is that the health, safety and well-being of children is paramount whether they’re in care or not. It’s crucial that as a Legislature and a society, we do everything in our power to ensure that’s the case. This bill proposes to take many steps towards that goal.

Could the member please expand on what regulations are currently in place to ensure those who work with children at risk are qualified to do so?

Thank you for the presentation.

There is an overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system in Ontario, but also across Canada.

The federal government of Canada funds First Nations child and family services on-reserve through Indigenous Services Canada. Indigenous Services Canada requires that First Nations child and family service agencies use provincial-territorial child welfare laws as a condition of funding. I know one of the things that is followed is the 1965 Indian Welfare Agreement.

Are there any plans to update the 1965 welfare agreement?

I want to acknowledge what many of the people who live in Kiiwetinoong, 65% of whom are Indigenous, might think of when you mention the child welfare system. Earlier, I asked a question to the other side, to the member who did their 20 minutes—that there is quite a bit of representation of our children, of our people, in this place.

I know, when I see this legislation, to me, growing up, but also the teachings that we have—we’ve always, as First Nations people, as Anishinaabeg, Anishininewuk, had our own laws. Before settlers arrived, as First Nations people, as Anishininewuk, we did not write a lot of things down, but it was through stories; it was through talking to people, that those were our laws. I know that sometimes nowadays we try to create our own laws. And I remember when the minister came to KI last year around February or March, when he became the minister, when he signed off the agreement with the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug Onaakonikewin. That was a good trip. It was the first time I saw the feds but also the provincial government, the First Nations—where they recognized Indigenous laws, First Nations laws, on how they are going to take care of their own children. They had their own laws. So I think it’s important to acknowledge that.

Every day, I talk about the impacts of colonialism, the impacts of oppression, the impacts of racism on Indigenous people. Every day, it’s the children who suffer first. I think, when we talk about the First Nations within Ontario, the care system represents the continuation of a history of colonial governments taking our children away, whether to force them to go to Indian residential school or placing them for adoption in mostly non-Indigenous homes.

Speaker, I’d like to remind the House: During the Sixties Scoop, around 16,000 Indigenous children were taken away from their families. They were taken away from the teachings. They were taken away from the ways of life and the ways of being. That is an example of the assimilationist policy that has caused repercussions and intergenerational trauma to this day. I see it. I see it when you see children that go missing.

I remember I was at this chiefs’ meeting one time, and there was First Nation leadership from my riding—they were under the child welfare system. She had five children under the age of four. She had no idea where they were—somewhere in Ontario; that’s all she knew. As a First Nation leader, she had no idea where those children were, and that should not happen—