Any bill, every bill, that pertains to our children is important for all of us. Children, and especially those that are at risk of harm or are already in care come to many different professionals in their lives. This bill proposes to strengthen information-sharing practices when individuals providing service and care to the children are suspected of posing a risk to children. It would create an all-hands-on-deck approach, with professional colleges, like the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers, ensuring that their members are working in the best interests of our young people and that those professional colleges are working together with children’s aid societies to do that.

My question is very simple to the member: Does the member support timely coordination between our professionals and professional colleges when there are opportunities to make services safer for our children?

My question is very simple, Madam Speaker: Does the member opposite support having a law on the books that would deter and punish individuals who harm children in their care? Is she going to support this bill?

Before I ask my question, I just want to acknowledge that we have young people in the House here—students—who are watching the debate. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Okay. So, the member from Thunder Bay–Superior North—thank you so much for your presentation. You’ve talked about some really difficult topics, but it is something that needs to be brought to the attention of the House so that we can right these wrongs in our communities.

I know that in the member’s riding there are many Indigenous communities, First Nations groups. As we heard earlier from the member from Kiiwetinoong, the Indigenous people, First Nations people have the right to be able to determine for their own communities, especially when it comes to children, to be able to raise them in their communities and in their culture. But there are many, many challenges that they’re experiencing, particularly when dealing with children in foster care.

Could you please share your insights, based on what you see happening in your riding?

I recognize the member from Windsor–Tecumseh.

Thank you, Speaker. Certainly it’s a privilege to rise today in support of Bill 188. Even though I’m not present on the committee, certainly in reading the transcripts I certainly got the sense that there are heartbreaking stories from all across Ontario. I know many are in my own community. My constituency office certainly receives a number of them.

I’ve taken the opportunity to sit down with Derrick Drouillard, who’s the executive director of our local children’s aid society in Windsor-Essex county, and he has given me a lot to think about, a lot of feedback, particularly about the limitations that exist in the system. That’s exactly why we need to pursue a redesign of the system.

Some of the issues that have been brought to my attention locally have been a number of gaps in terms of service delivery. Organizations are doing their utmost to do what they do best, and sometimes that means that their mandates change, but, ultimately, gaps then get bigger and bigger and bigger as mandates are refined. We know we have to keep the child at the centre of everything we do. That includes safety, stability and access to the resources that can help them succeed and to thrive. Sometimes that means caring and love that they hadn’t received from others, it could be skills development, but, ultimately, we want to have a system in which a young person in Ontario knows they can achieve anything that they put their mind to. If they have a dream, they should be able to realize it.

We have so much potential in our young people, and it’s heartbreaking to see when there’s trouble at home. Actually my wife and I spoke last night—and I remember a child who was in my scout group; they actually ran into each other out in the community. She had gotten something to eat with some friends of mine, and this former youth had covered her bill. I don’t think he had ever met my wife, but he knew who she was. That’s a great youth, and it’s a youth who came from a place that I knew was difficult. His mom worked really hard to keep him on the right track, and ultimately, he developed into a remarkable young man.

This is exactly the kind of potential that exists in our youth and why the government introduced the Supporting Children’s Futures Act, which includes new and enhanced enforcement tools for those who are being victimized and those who need some support in order to get them to a place where they can look back at themselves and see the potential inside them.

I know that the changes are intended to support compliance by the different practitioners with requirements designed to protect the safety and security of children and youth in out-of-home care. In many cases, being at home is the best medicine, but there are cases when it is not. It’s not just among children and youth; I think of the victims of intimate partner violence, as an example. They should not be left with a spot where their only option is to go back to a horrible situation.

The changes in this bill also aim to protect the privacy of children. We do not want a child’s future to really be ruined or harmed by casual or careless distribution of their personal information. We want to know that their information is not going to be accessible to just about anybody. One of the great things about the information age is we can actually find out a great deal of information. Someone actually is watching us right now, and they may be screen-capping it and archiving it, and that’s a great thing to shed some light. But sometimes, there’s a need for protection.

We all have made decisions I think we’d like to change, and we also sometimes have stories that we really don’t want to have told. In cases like these involving children and youth, especially in care, it’s not their fault, but they feel it’s their fault that they’re in that situation. This can be incredibly demoralizing to them.

The measures in the bill look like—it actually opens up an opportunity to share an experience. There’s nothing better for a youth than to open up and not feel a stigma if they do and say, “You know what? It’s important that I tell my story.” Certainly, the committee heard instances in the past where youth felt that they had to keep everything quiet, even though probably the best remedy would have been daylight. So these changes as a whole are intended to better protect and support children, youth and their families and set them up for success.

Protection services are mandated and legislated under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017. They’re provided by children’s aid societies all across Ontario. I’ve got to tip my hat to everyone who’s working in this sector. I can’t even imagine how difficult it is to be knowledgeable of a situation in which you know you may not have a caring family or a family that cannot provide for the members of the family. Perhaps it’s deliberate; perhaps it’s not. But ultimately, you must get a sense of hopelessness for certain situations that you run across.

I tip my hat to the many boards of directors of children’s aid societies across the province. There are 50, and there are also 13 Indigenous children’s aid societies. I would like to give a special shout-out, should he be watching, to Adam Coates, who’s one of my former colleagues who sits on the Windsor-Essex Children’s Aid Society board. He’s a professional planner. I worked with him at the city of Windsor. The fact that he is committing his time to helping support youth in our community is truly, truly commendable.

Looking at the investments in children’s aid societies—$1.5 billion this year—it’s really a steady increase. I know we can have an amount that increases and may not see the immediate results, but the investment is worth it. And the increased investment in child protection is $14 million, approximately, and that builds on last year’s increase of $76.3 million. And there’s $109 million for children and youth services, which had been increased the year prior by $92.4 million.

And so, we have a number of practitioners in this sector. We’ve got out-of-home care for those children who are not staying at home. That includes accommodation. It could include supervision and a specialized program for special needs. I know that we have a shortage of practitioners. Parents are certainly telling me that.

We have an interesting situation down in our neck of the woods, because we have Michigan and Detroit metro just 15 minutes away. Because of that international border, even though there are practitioners able to practise, that international border is precluding us. That’s maybe one of the things I’d like to work on on a broader scale for us in border communities: that we have some access that could be out there, just in Michigan; that, perhaps, our families could have those services covered as if they were delivered by Canadian practitioners.

Care is also provided in foster homes, children’s residences and staff model homes. Previous remarks have also mentioned kin families, and certainly I’m aware of many in our community. I appreciate the government’s tremendous investment in kin families. It didn’t exist before. There are still some challenges with the set-up there, and while there are solutions, they may not always be considered to be in the best interest of the child.

Looking at Bill 188, it was developed through widespread consultation. There was lots of testimony at committee. There were 35 written submissions, 30 virtual engagements, and really, the feedback was, I’d say, positive. I see that I just have a minute and 30 left to relay a few, but just in general: “Bill 188 is a fantastic piece of legislation” was one of the items heard. “As a former youth in care, I cannot overstate” the importance of this bill.

There was comment about progress in the past, such as Ready, Set, Go; that the enhancements are key; that inspectors have increased and penalties have increased. One of the children who had been in care said one of the sections was “groundbreaking” and that the status quo had been a “stigma that young people in care are problem kids,” and this helps to address that and give hope and optimism for the future. And really, that optimism that you can be something better, something that you can dream about, is the best opportunity that we can give to our young people in Ontario.

So Bill 188 is a tremendously progressive bill that helps us get there and helps our young people who are being served by care agencies to realize the potential in themselves. It’s important they see that value. Bill 188 gets us to where they can feel that inside them. I’m delighted to support it, and I want to thank the minister for bringing it forward and the Legislature for getting this through to third reading today.

I want to thank the member for Windsor–Tecumseh for those remarks. I particularly enjoyed your comments when you were talking about the staff, and the burden on the staff when they are aware of an unsafe situation for a youth and how that must weigh on them. I completely agree. That has been my experience meeting with workers for the children’s aid society in Ottawa.

I wonder if the member could elaborate on what this House could do, empowering this legislation even more to be mindful of making sure we hold on to those talented children’s-aid-worker staff? The member for Kitchener Centre said it earlier in debate this afternoon, and she comes from this particular sector, so she should know that, at the moment, in some cases, for-profit group homes and for-profit foster homes are pulling some of the children’s aid workers, paid non-profit, publicly, out of that system, because it’s difficult to compete. It’s difficult to retain talented people.

Do you think it would make sense—my question to the member—for us to make sure that there was proper funding for children’s aid societies so they can maintain the staff, the competence they have and reward those hard-working people?

I recognize the member from Ottawa Centre.

Good afternoon, Speaker. On a point of order, please.

I was sorry to hear from the Minister of Colleges and Universities yesterday that the government does not support a return of the Child and Youth Advocate. The work being done by that advocate cannot be replaced by the Ombudsman. An ombudsman is complaint-based, and an advocate is there to be proactive.

But the implication was that with this new bill, everything would be fixed right away. So my question is, how long do you think it will take to bring staffing levels up to the point where it is actually possible to implement the programs suggested by the bill and protect the children as we know they need to be protected?

I thank the member from Ottawa Centre for his question. Certainly, one thing that I have noticed in my discussions is that staff have to feel that they’re empowered and that they’re supported. That’s a big piece of this where responsibilities are more clearly defined in this legislation in terms of your duty to report, in terms of your obligations or the expectations for the protection of young people that you work with.

So I think instilling that confidence that, “Hey, the staff are there. Their management has their back” is a terrific way—it’s just being established in this bill and reinforced in this bill. The funding has continued to increase over the last number of years while serving relatively fewer children. So we’re getting there with this bill. I see lots of hope on the horizon as a result of this bill.

That’s a $68-million program, and it helps children’s aid societies focus on helping children plan their futures at an earlier age. Basically, it allows you to remain in care until the age of 23, up from the age of 21, which was what happened before. And funding increased $850 per month to $1,800 for age 18, $1,500 for age 19 and $1,000 for age 20. So, these are some supports that can help under Ready, Set, Go. It really gives our youth an opportunity for a better path for the future.

The Ombudsman being part of the amount of information given to children and youth as an option—there’s nothing that’s brand new. That awareness is something that’s important, that they know that they have an ally in the Ontario Ombudsman that is looking out for them.

Thank you to my colleagues from Mississauga–Lakeshore and Windsor–Tecumseh for their thoughtful comments and passion about this bill. Thank you for your support. Thank you for sharing your own story about the children’s aid society in Windsor and your good friend who is managing—he was a former staff, and we’re getting all the inside information. Thank you for sharing that.

Madam Speaker, this bill is about working to fill the cracks in the foster care system and protecting our vulnerable children in our wonderful province by hiring more inspectors, conducting random inspections that never happened before and creating more accountability for licensees. My colleagues, could you elaborate on this: How are we protecting and enhancing this premise to protect our children in our foster care system?

Further questions?

Mr. Parsa has moved third reading of Bill 188, An Act to amend the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 and various other Acts. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

Report continues in volume B.

I want to thank both government members for their presentation. As we’ve already indicated, the official opposition NDP will be supporting this bill. But I have a question around inspection, because we know that good policies can only work if they are resourced and if there is appropriate funding that goes hand in hand with it. So when it comes to inspection, what resources have been given for inspections and enforcement? Will it mean that there will be proactive inspections? How many inspectors are there now and how many do you expect to have once this bill comes into force?

I want to thank the member for that great question. Our government will do whatever it takes to protect children and youth in this province. Not only that, we are creating 20 new inspection positions. As well, we’re going to be boosting the unannounced inspections to increase transparency through the system.

I want to thank the member. We’re going to continue to protect our children, because children are very important to all of us in here, especially myself. I have two young boys, and I know how important it is to protect our children through the province of Ontario.

When it comes to our children, our government launched our plan to redesign child welfare in 2020 and has taken action through many initiatives since then, from hiring more inspectors and increasing the number of inspections; to creating a new quality standards framework so there is a common benchmark across the province; to launching Ready, Set, Go, which ensured for the first time Ontario had a plan to support children and youth in care as they near adulthood and set them up for success. These measures made a real difference.

At this time, I’d like to ask the member from Windsor–Tecumseh if he can explain to us how Bill 188 complements and builds on the work done by the child welfare redesign.