An OPSEU analysis of Bill 89, An Act to enact the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2016, to amend and repeal the Child and Family Services Act and to make related amendments to other Acts, with recommendations for improvements.
Introduction: OPSEU and Bill 89
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union represents 130,000 Ontarians working in every corner of the province. OPSEU members work in the provincial and municipal public sectors and also for private companies on contract with public sector entities.
In social services, OPSEU represents 6,100 workers employed in three sectors that are directly affected by Bill 89, An Act to enact the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2016. These OPSEU members work in Children’s Aid Societies; in youth justice facilities; and in mental health treatment programs for children and youth. These workers provide treatment, counselling, care, advocacy, and other support to children, youth, and families.
As frontline social service workers, OPSEU members bring a unique perspective to the well-documented problems afflicting social services in Ontario. They have a deep investment in the success of all children and youth; indeed, that is why they are in this line of work. They are uniquely positioned to provide insights into how we are doing, as a society, when it comes to supporting our children and youth. Yet too often, their input is overlooked.
Workers in the social services system have witnessed many changes in recent years, among them:
- changes to funding models that subvert a child-centered approach and instead demand a focus on outcome measures, quotas, accountability agreements, and the management of waitlists;
- growing public demand for services; and
- growing complexity in the nature of the services required.
The government’s response to greater demand has not been to expand these services. Instead, it has opted to restructure, amalgamate, and download them.
This has not made life better for children, youth, or families in need of support. There is a reason for this: the changes are meant to serve the needs of the system, including the political structures that support it. These changes impose a business model that continues to fail to meet the needs of the people it is supposed to serve. Any change that aims to put children and youth at the centre of concern – and decision-making – is more than welcome.
Bill 89: assessing its stated goals
How do we meet a child’s needs? This question is the subject of the preamble to Bill 89.
According to the preamble, the new Child Youth and Family Services Act (CYFSA) will recognize that children’s services ought to be grounded in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This approach is in line with Katelynn’s Principle, which places children at the centre when they are the subject of, or receiving services through, the child welfare, justice, and education systems. This principle means that the child’s views must be given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child, and that each child should be given the opportunity to participate before any decisions affecting them are made.
OPSEU members support Katelynn’s Principle and wish to see it brought to life through legislation that places the needs of children and youth ahead of all other considerations. Thus, we support the principles laid out in the preamble to Bill 89.
We support diversity and inclusion. We believe in the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We want to eliminate systemic racism and the barriers it creates.
The preamble to Bill 89 references all of these ideas with language that it is, to be sure, very forward-looking and “21st century.”
Unfortunately, the actual changes proposed in the bill are very minor. They do not live up to the promise of the preamble. For a truly comprehensive rethink of how services are delivered to vulnerable children in Ontario, we need a bold and courageous vision – one that is more than merely aspirational. We need a vision that ensures that provisions within the Act truly address the social, economic and health needs of children.
Such an approach would require working across ministerial silos; significantly increasing spending on services to children and youth; and eliminating the profit motive in the provision of any service to children and youth.
OPSEU members support greater oversight and accountability; licensing for residential services; amplifying the voice of children and youth; and First Nations oversight and governance. But in the absence of radical changes – changes not proposed in Bill 89 – vulnerable children will not have access to the same life opportunities as other children in Ontario.
Backdrop to the crisis
The problems of vulnerable children, youth and families do not exist in a vacuum. They are embedded in social and economic conditions. And at present, Ontario is a place where the needs of our most vulnerable citizens take a back seat to corporate profit-seeking. Social services are, overall, dramatically underfunded in Ontario.
This is not acceptable. The fact is, there is more money in Ontario than ever before. Real (adjusted for inflation) Gross Domestic Product per capita is at a record level.