Back in 2012, when we had a Provincial Advocate for Child and Youth here in the province, that office recognized the disproportionate needs for children in care who identify as Black and Indigenous.

I wanted to quote from this book called HairStory: Rooted—A Firm Foundation for the Future of Black Youth in Ontario’s Systems of Care.

“Benefits of Kinship Care

“Children in kinship care can maintain their racial, cultural and religious ties. They are living with families where they are, for example, speaking the same language, getting the same kind of food they are used to, and the family traditions are very similar, if not the same. It strengthens their identities and allows them to remain connected to their community.”

My question to the government is, if you purport to care about all children and youth in Ontario, why not ensure we have kinship care in this bill that’s supposed to support children and youth, knowing how important it is to Black and Indigenous—

I’d like to thank Dr. Sally Palmer, professor and advocate, for sending my office this petition.

“To Raise Social Assistance Rates.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and far from adequate to cover the rising costs of food and rent: $733 for individuals on OW and $1,308 for ODSP;

“Whereas an open letter to the Premier and two cabinet ministers, signed by over 230 organizations, recommends that social assistance rates be doubled”—at least—“for both Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP);

“Whereas small increases to ODSP have still left these citizens” well “below the poverty line. Both they and those receiving the frozen OW rates are struggling to survive at this time of alarming inflation;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized in its CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly to double social assistance rates for OW and ODSP” for starters.

I couldn’t agree more with the petition. I’ve affixed my name, and I’m handing it over to Harris for tabling.

In September 2015, Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kukyk and Nathalie Warmerdam were murdered by a man in Renfrew county. The perpetrator knew all three women.

Their tragic murders led to the Renfrew county inquest, which last June made 86 specific and concrete recommendations to prevent intimate partner violence. The very first recommendation is to identify the problem and declare intimate partner violence an epidemic. Will the Premier accept the first recommendation from the Renfrew county inquest and declare intimate partner violence an epidemic?

I’ll ask the government again: Will they implement the first recommendation and name intimate partner violence what it is, an epidemic? And furthermore, will they do recommendation number 4 and create the role of an independent survivor advocate to advocate on behalf of survivors and their experience in the justice system?