Critics blast decision to axe independent child advocate,
Loss will push the plight of vulnerable kids back into shadows, critics say
Ontario’s child advocate says it is “dangerous” for the Ford government to suggest the children’s ministry should monitor itself and advocate for the province’s most vulnerable kids.
“The government must pause, consult and reconsider its plan,” said Irwin Elman, the province’s first independent child and youth advocate whose office is enshrined in 2007 legislation.
Finance Minister Vic Fedeli announced the government’s plan to axe the legislation as part of Thursday’s fall economic update. He said the measure would save costs and cut red tape. Fedeli said the child ad- vocate’s duties will be merged with the provincial ombudsman’s office. But the advocate’s office takes a proactive approach whereas the ombudsman’s office is primarily complaints-driven, and it is unclear who will play the advocacy role under the changes. Before the 2007 legislation, the child advocate was employed by the children’s ministry.
Under the 2007 law, the advocate’s office is mandated to advocate and investigate on behalf of children and youth involved with children’s aid, the mental health system, youth justice, disability services and provincial schools for people who are deaf, blind or live with severe disabilities. The office is also responsible for Indigenous and Métis kids. During Question Period Thursday, NDP children’s critic Monique Taylor slammed the government for cutting a role that provides vital oversight.
“The child advocate calls out governments when their policies harm innocent children,” Taylor said. “The fact that the Ford government wants to do away with their voice says something terrifying about the plans for this province for our most vulnerable children.”
The move means Ontario is one of the only provinces in the country without an independent child advocate.
“Our independence from government has been critical, and the detailed systemic reviews and investigations that we have conducted have repeatedly shone a light on systemic gaps and failures in the system that have put vulnerable children and youth at significant risk,” Elman said in a statement.
Over the years, Elman, whose second four-year term is up Nov. 25 with no legislative right to renewal, has drawn attention to the scores of nameless, children and youth who die in the care of children’s aid societies every year.
He sparked the first legislative hearings into the problems facing children and youth in foster care and group homes. He has questioned the overrepresentation of Black youth in the care of children’s aid, urged an inquest to consider the impact of systemic racism in the deaths of Indigenous youth in the Thunder Bay area and called for an overhaul of Ontario’s group home system. Elman’s office was also instrumental in ensuring the voice of children and youth was central to Ontario’s new Child, Youth and Family Services Act, introduced in 2016.
“Our office has made sure that (children and youth) are seen, that their voices are heard, that their fundamental rights are respected, and that their opinions are taken into account in decisions big and small,” Elman said.
Academics, advocates and those who have been in the care of children’s aid said the loss of an independent advocate will push the plight of vulnerable kids back into the shadows.
“The repeal of this act further cements the anti-child and anti-youth orientation of the current government,” said Kiaras Gharabaghi, director of Ryerson’s school of child and youth care.