I would. Thank you very much, Speaker.

Good afternoon, colleagues. Today, I’m going to walk you through some exciting changes that will support the futures of some of the most vulnerable children in our province.

Before I begin, I would like to note that I will be sharing my speaking time today with my colleagues and parliamentary assistants, the member for Markham–Thornhill and the member for Thornhill. They will speak to the important foundational work that we have done in recent years.

The new proposals in Bill 188, the Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024, build upon the work that the government has undertaken over the past several years.

Specifically, I’d like to commend the member for Sarnia–Lambton for his years of advocacy on this file. While he’s unable to join us in today’s debate, he has twice been the author of private members’ bills on the subject. His years of hard work have enabled the changes that are currently being proposed, so I want to thank my good friend the member for Sarnia–Lambton, Bob Bailey, for all his great work.

Indeed, this work was only possible with the collaboration and valued input of children, youth and families with lived experiences in our child and youth protection sector, children’s aid societies and service providers in every part of the province. Through many engagements that the ministry held, our partners have taken time to share their insights and their lived experiences.

I do want to thank everyone once again who took the time to share the details with us.

I’d also like to acknowledge the incredible work that the overwhelming majority of our partners do. Their tireless work has a profound and life-long impact on the outcomes of vulnerable children and youth as they transition into adulthood.

I want to acknowledge that many of our child welfare service providers devote their time to delivering high-quality care for children and youth. However, we must also address those who should not have become operators in the first place and those who are not operating in good faith.

Speaker, we are here today because our government will not leave anyone behind. And it is especially important that no child or youth is ever left behind, and that they have every chance to thrive and succeed regardless of their circumstances.

We have heard from our sector partners and communities about the need to implement measures that will better protect the rights of children and youth, that better enhance the quality of services and improve the accountability of service providers. That’s why we have introduced these legislative proposals along with other regulatory and policy changes.

This bill builds on the many initiatives already taken and is another step forward. We will continue to hear from experts, from advocates, from communities to continuously improve services so that all children and youth have a chance to succeed and thrive in every corner of this province. We’re working towards a province where all children, youth and families, including those getting support through Ontario’s children and youth services sector, are empowered with the necessary resources and supports.

Our government’s proposals would, if passed, modernize and standardize important safeguards throughout the children and youth services sector, including stronger licensing enforcement tools to hold bad-faith operators accountable to the high standards and safeguards that are in place to help keep children and youth safe and healthy.

It would also create a framework that would enhance privacy protections of those currently or who were formerly in the child welfare system by further restricting access to protection of records comprised of their personal childhood histories, once regulations are developed.

Likewise, it will enable individuals to speak freely about their lived experience and give them more control over what they want to share publicly about their child protection experiences, in circumstances to be outlined following further consultations with the sector.

And it will provide authority for regulations that would expand the type of information individuals working with vulnerable children and youth can be required to provide beyond formal police record checks, such as an offence declaration.

We’re also ensuring that children’s aid societies and out-of-home care licensees provide children and youth with information about the Ombudsman and how to contact their office.

We are proposing to clarify that early childhood educators can be subject to an offence for failing to report child protection concerns to a children’s aid society, similar to other professionals such as teachers and social workers.

The children and youth services sector supports a wide range of individuals with diverse needs as well as their families and caregivers in every corner of our province. For example, we support children and youth in need of protection who may have experienced trauma or have been or are at risk of being abused or neglected. Additionally, I’m also talking about youth who are involved in the youth justice system and how we can help support them to choose another path forward.

Ensuring timely support, care and intervention can mean supporting the family who is experiencing or going through some challenging times. It can mean protecting a child from an abusive caregiver. It can mean empowering a child to overcome barriers to their future goals. And it can mean helping a youth involved with the justice system find their way so they can engage with their friends, their family and their community in a positive way.

The proposals in this bill stem from a broad range of feedback. For this, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the individuals with lived experience, advocates, service providers, children’s aid societies, as well as First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous communities. Their input is vital to help ensure the success of the government’s vision of leaving no child or youth behind.

I’d like to share some of their public feedback since Bill 188 was introduced last week.

From John E. Fleming, council chair, and Denitha Breau, registrar and CEO: “We at the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers—overseeing the largest group of mental health providers in the province—value its ongoing work with the ministry, and we are pleased with this step towards the strongest possible protection for the public, including the province’s most vulnerable, children and youth.”

From Julie Despaties, executive director and founder of Adopt4Life: “We’re encouraged to see this recognition of the need for improved safeguards for vulnerable children and youth in the care of our province. These children and youth deserve our highest commitments, collectively, to supporting their safety and well-being, their healthy development and long-term successful outcomes, including the protection of their privacy and personal information after they have left the child welfare system.”

From former foster child Diana Frances: “I’m writing to express my support of Bill 188 ... that is currently before the Ontario government. Speaking from my life experience, I believe with all my heart that these improvements to the safety, well-being and privacy of children and youth in care are of vital importance. Many important changes have been made to the system since I was adopted, given up again at age 13 and placed with another family as a ward of the province. However, more issues need to be updated and amended as our social structure changes and social media poses new risks to privacy and safety.”

Likewise, “The Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies and its member children’s aid societies and Indigenous child and family well-being agencies welcome efforts to build a child and family services system that supports all children and youth to succeed and thrive through the consistent delivery of high-quality, trauma-informed and culturally relevant care. We will continue to engage our members to analyze the impact of Bill 188, Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024, on the child welfare sector. We look forward to collaborating with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services to ensure the bill centres equity and supports improved outcomes for the children, youth, and families supported by child welfare agencies across the province.”

Building on that, Valerie McMurtry, president and CEO of the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada, had this to say: “We commend the Ontario government for their work to increase clarity regarding the care of young people placed in out-of-home settings through the Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024. Our collective priority should be to ensure that young people remain in the care of their families and communities. However, when this isn’t feasible, it’s critical that young people have access to the high-quality supports they need, including understanding their rights and assistance available to them through Ontario’s Ombudsman. We value the government’s commitment to making sure young people receive this information and ensuring their voices stay central in shaping this act and next steps with respect to child welfare redesign.”

Lastly from Susan Somogyi Wells, CEO of Family Service Ontario: “The Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024, enhances the safety, privacy and rights of children and youth. Family Service Ontario strongly supports this legislation for its commitment to safeguarding the well-being of our children and youth, mitigating the risks of developmental trauma.”

Madam Speaker, while the proposed legislative and non-legislative changes are a step in the right direction, we continue to consult and learn from these stakeholders and many others as we continuously seek to improve safety, supports and access to resources for children and youth who are served by our child protection system.

We also acknowledge that the needs of First Nations, Inuit, Métis and urban Indigenous communities are unique, and we need to ensure flexibility and space to consult and support the needs of these communities when implementing changes in child protection systems, as we all work through the ongoing transition process to self-governance of these communities in the child welfare space.

Just last Friday, April 19, the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation made history by becoming the third Indigenous governing body in Ontario and 11th in Canada to have its own child and family services law take effect with the force of federal law, in accordance with An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families. The law, Nigig Nibi Ki-win, provides a foundation for a service delivery system that has been specifically designed to meet the needs of children, youth and families of the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation.

Speaker, the changes that we are currently proposing in Bill 188, coupled with our ongoing work, may be categorized into three themes: strengthening oversight, enforcement, licensing; establishing clear and consistent practices; and supporting stable transitions.

I’d now like to spend some time outlining the specific actions we are proposing to take under each theme and how they will support better outcomes for children and youth counting on all of us to ensure they are safe and supported.

By strengthening the oversight, enforcement and licensing of out-of-home care, we are working to enhance the safety of children and youth. It’s important to note that we have many hard-working and selfless people working in out-of-home care, such as foster and group homes, who are dedicated to the lives of the children and youth they serve. Many give so much of themselves and make personal sacrifices to provide the best possible support to those who are experiencing some of life’s most difficult circumstances. This is hard work, and it takes very special people to care for our most vulnerable children. They have my deepest thanks for the love and the care that they share with the children.

On the other hand, we have also seen stories in the news; not all service providers are created equal, and some do not operate in good faith. The changes that we’re proposing in this part of the legislation would have little to no impact on good operators—to those homes that are striving to provide high-quality support to vulnerable children and youth. The proposed changes seek to enhance both licensing processes up front and enforcement tools in cases where operators are acting in bad faith. This is based on the principle that all children and youth in care deserve safety, security and high-quality services that are culturally appropriate and that meet their unique needs.

The proposed legislative changes would modernize and standardize important safeguards in the licensed out-of-home care sector. The amendments would strengthen the ministry’s oversight of foster care and group homes; support the quality of care for children and youth; and introduce additional or strengthened enforcement tools to support better compliance with licensing requirements. These proposals are aimed at enhancing compliance with licensing requirements designed to ensure children and youth receive high-quality care that supports their health and safety and empowers them to reach their full potential.

Speaker, I’ll now turn to the second theme that I mentioned earlier, which is clear and consistent practices. By establishing practices that are clear and consistent across the children and youth services sector, we aim to improve the safety and quality of services delivered by all service providers. We are proposing six actions under this theme.

First, to improve the safety of children and youth, we propose to clarify that service providers, such as children’s aid societies, can share personal information with the College of Early Childhood Educators and the Ontario College of Teachers. Information shared could be used to support proceedings, such as investigations, hearings and new registrations to support the safety of children and youth. Currently, service providers are only authorized to share personal information with colleges of regulated health professions and social work colleges, and we’re proposing that they be allowed to share information with the Ontario College of Teachers and the College of Early Childhood Educators. This would reduce potential delays, for example, when either college requires information from a society about a verified allegation against an early childhood educator or teacher. Currently, if the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers believes that a member poses a risk to others, the college would be prohibited by the Social Work and Social Service Work Act to share their concerns with anyone without the member’s consent, or until after the college investigated and the results of the investigation were made public. A practical example of this was when a social worker had their membership revoked by the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers in February 2023 for professional misconduct involving sexual abuse and sexual misconduct with a student. The college opened their investigation in August 2019 but would have been unable to share their concerns about the social worker with new employers or out-of-province social worker colleges during that nearly four-year span. Everyone would agree that what happened is completely unacceptable and it put children and youth at risk. And we are ensuring that that scenario never happens again.

Second, we propose to enable the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers to share information with governing bodies and others, including children’s aid societies, in particular circumstances. Several professional colleges already have this authority, including the College of Early Childhood Educators, the Ontario College of Teachers and other regulated health professionals. To improve the safety and well-being of children and youth, we want to make this consistent for the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. This would help enable timely information-sharing about a member during an investigation to support an action. The amendments, if passed, would add exceptions to the confidentiality provisions of the social service worker act to allow the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers to:

(a) share information with a body that governs a profession inside or outside of Ontario;

(b) confirm whether the college is investigating a member and if there is a compelling public interest reason to make such a confirmation;

(c) share information if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the disclosure is necessary for the purposes of eliminating or reducing a significant risk of serious harm to a person or group of people;

(d) share information as otherwise required by law.

Third, to support the long-term success of adoptions and to help keep children safe, we intend to bring forward future regulations that would require children’s aid societies to conduct safety assessments, create safety plans as needed, and create plans of care for children in adoption-placement settings. The proposal for these regulatory amendments has been posted on the regulatory registry. Children’s aid societies are already required to take these steps for children in care when they are in other types of placement settings. Our goal here is to make these requirements for safety and service planning consistent for adoption-placement settings.

The fourth action we’re taking is to help children and youth know and exercise their rights. For example, additional clarity is proposed in the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, when children and youth must be informed about the office of the Ombudsman. Some of these requirements are already included in the Ombudsman Act. This change will help clarify the requirements for children’s aid societies and licensed out-of-home care providers to notify children and youth that they have the right to be informed about the Ombudsman and their role. Vulnerable youth and children deserve to have private and frank conversations about the care that they’re receiving.

Fifth, we propose to clarify that early childhood educators can be subject to an offence for failing to report a child protection concern to a children’s aid society. This proposal would clarify that ECEs, early childhood educators, can be subject to the same offence as other persons who perform professional or official duties with children—such as teachers, social workers—in the event that they fail to report a child protection concern.

And sixth, to further improve the safety of children and youth who are in care or receiving services, we are proposing to provide the Lieutenant Governor in Council the authority to make regulations that would allow information other than a formal police record check, such as an offence declaration, to be required of an individual. Above and beyond this, the government intends to bring forward future regulations to standardize police record check requirements for the child and youth services sector.

Those are the six actions we propose taking to establish clear and consistent practices.

Speaker, now I will turn to the third theme that I mentioned a bit earlier, and that’s supporting stable transitions. Under this theme, we’re proposing two actions which aim to support children transitioning into adulthood. All children deserve a fresh start, especially those who have experienced great turmoil, trauma and challenges in their early years.

First, we propose to enhance privacy protections for individuals with previous involvement in the child welfare services sector. We have heard concerns from former children and youth about their personal information being held in perpetuity in society databases, where any employee could easily search and access very private childhood histories of those who were raised in care. There are many examples when this information has been used negatively to impact their future. For example, former youth in care have shared that their personal childhood stories were counted against them when seeking board positions or employment at a children’s aid society or in custody proceedings. To clarify, these are not criminal records. Foster children have many details recorded about themselves during the course of service, much in the same way any parent observes their own children’s childhood experiences. However, Speaker, being the parent that you are, you would know that parents do not record this information nor do they use it to limit their children’s future, and children raised in care deserve the same respect and equal treatment under the law. By restricting access to or disclosure of these records, we will create a framework that would protect the private details of their childhood experiences and reinforce their control over their own personal information.

Second, we are proposing to make changes that would further reinforce control of personal information by enabling individuals who have had a history of child protection involvement to publicly identify themselves and speak about their own lived experiences in child protection if they choose to do so. For example, currently in Ontario, it’s illegal for someone raised in care to identify themselves as a “former foster child.” This is in contravention of article 2, freedom of expression, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and it will be remedied by our proposed changes. We all have the right to freedom of expression. This will also be true for children and youth in care. The circumstances in which individuals would be able to do this would be prescribed in regulations at a later date, following consultations. This would help clarify the rules for publishing this information and give individuals more control and ownership over their own stories, over their own experiences.

Speaker, the proposed legislative changes, as well as the regulatory and policy changes that I have just outlined, are another important step towards achieving our government’s vision where no child or youth will ever be left behind in the province of Ontario. We are building a province where all children, youth and families have the resources and the supports they need to succeed and thrive. These new proposals build on the work that the government has undertaken over the past several years. But we must always move forward. And we are committed to doing that work with our sector partners.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to share their insights and their experiences with us. As we continue to take steps forward together, we’ll continue to strengthen families and communities across Ontario.

I would now like to turn it over to my good friend and colleague the outstanding parliamentary assistant and the member for Markham–Thornhill. And prior to doing that, I want to thank my good friend former parliamentary assistant Nolan Quinn, who did an absolutely amazing job and who is a champion for the sector and his community.

I want to thank both parliamentary assistants and my honourable colleague for the question as well.

Madam Speaker, it’s very simple. When we talked about the child welfare redesign—I’ve said this from the day that I was appointed to this ministry: that no child or youth will be left behind and that we will do whatever it takes, which is why, Madam Speaker, we hired 20 more new staff to do inspections, to do unannounced inspections, to make sure—and I want to thank the vast majority of the service providers who are providing care with love for our children and youth in the province.

But we want to make sure that the bad actors are held accountable, Madam Speaker, which is why we hired more inspectors, which is why we are doing more inspections. We’re doing more unannounced inspections and that’s why, through this bill and through this initiative, we’ll be looking at introducing measures that will further hold those bad actors to account, Madam Speaker.

So, when it comes to protecting the children and youth in this province, we will never waver from that commitment, making sure that they’re looked after.

The amendments here clarify, Madam Speaker, that early childhood educators have the duty to be able to report. Again, at its core, this is to make sure that every child and youth is supported, is looked after, and that, for us, is to make sure that those are held to account. The ECEs, just like other professions, like teachers and physicians, counsellors and child care providers, who already have that—we want to make sure that early childhood educators also have the obligation to be able to provide that information to societies, as most of us have the opportunity, Madam Speaker. Everyone can report, but this now clarifies the role of early childhood educators in the bill to make sure that they have an obligation to report, in case there’s a—

Madam Speaker, as I said from day one, we will leave no stone unturned when it comes to protecting children and youth in care. That’s why, through the child welfare redesign, we have looked at every possible solution. That’s why we’ve had consultations with partners, with stakeholders, those with lived experiences: to give us the feedback that we need to implement policies to protect them. Madam Speaker, we will never waver from that commitment.

As I’ve said many, many times on many occasions, children and youth may be a portion of our population, but they’re 100% of our future and we will do everything we can to provide that protection for them.

Well, Madam Speaker, it’s called freedom of expression. It’s a fundamental freedom in our country. Those of us who have grown up, we have the opportunity to be able to talk about our childhood experiences. You and I can talk about our school and where we attended and the interactions that we had with people. Currently, under the CYFSA, individuals who were formally in care are not able to do that Madam Speaker, and it’s just about their right.

Everyone should have the right to be able to express their—talk about their past, good or bad, and be able to fully express themselves. And we want to make sure that’s captured in this bill.

As far as the support, I can tell you, Madam Speaker, the Ready, Set, Go Program, for leaving care, came with $170 million of funding that was provided to societies to make sure that children and youth are supported at the age of 13 with the life skills they need to succeed and thrive. And after they leave care, they will receive that funding right up to their 23rd birthday, because we want to make sure that they are set up for success in every community. And we backed that up with $170 million of funding.

And some of the other fines for the worst kinds of offences are increased to $250,000. At its core, this bill is about protecting children and youth at all aspects. It’s about making sure children and youth that are in care are receiving the supports that they need to make sure they succeed and thrive.