I’d like to thank my friend from Chatham-Kent–Leamington for a truly excellent question.

As trained educators, we learn within teachers’ college that the duty to report is paramount. It is not a matter of telling someone you are next to, it is not a matter of going to an administrator, it is not a matter of going to anyone except to report any suspicions straight away. There’s no exception to that rule, nor should there be. If there’s any thought that a child has been harmed, is in danger now or is in danger in the future, it has to be reported straight away. Adding early childhood educators absolutely makes good sense.

I don’t think that there’s much within Bill 188 that I could criticize, that I could talk down about.

I think the more that we do for children—it speaks about us as a society, as a Legislature, as a province, and, quite frankly, as the human beings we are.

We need to make sure that the people who are at the beginning of their lives and at the end of their lives receive more support than the rest of us in between, with some exceptions, naturally speaking.

I want to thank the member for the question. It is something that is—

It’s an interesting thing; I had an opportunity to meet, through Jane, a number of people who, despite numerous challenges and despite so many arbitrary obstacles they faced as well as obstacles that were placed within their path, were able to achieve the heights of education. Jane has received her PhD. I think of other people who were able to receive their doctorates, as well. I think of one young person who had tremendous problems with their birth family, was told so many things—that they would never succeed. Of course, there were mental health issues within that family, and that is incredibly unfortunate. They entered the foster care system. Despite all of that, despite their young mind being filled with so many words of judgement, of criticism, of setting the bar so low, they succeeded.

I also want to come back to the courses that are often given to these crown wards. Often, these courses are such things as how not to get pregnant and how to apply for social assistance. How are we, as a province, setting the bar so low that we’re telling young people who want to live out their dreams how to apply for social assistance? That doesn’t—

We can easily say that there are many children within the crown ward system who have encountered tremendous difficulties and have endured likely quite a bit of trauma. And to think that that information might be available to people after they have become the age of majority or after they have become an adult is simply disturbing.

Imagine, Speaker, having experienced trauma yourself and having that spectre hanging around you, above you, at all times, that there are people who could know that about you and have access to that information. That would be tremendously disturbing and upsetting. It would almost be like reliving that trauma. So I do applaud Bill 188 for its changes to privacy as it regards the history of former crown wards.