This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Ontario’s children’s advocate, Irwin Elman, has recently alleged that the government is refusing to provide the information and investigative authority he needs to protect the vulnerable youth. Addressing reporters at a press conference at Queen’s Park on Friday, Elman stated that it is pretty clear that the government doesn’t want him poking around in its business.
Elman stated in his remarks that “my experience with governments in general, especially ministries is that they don’t want people’s noses in their business. They think everything is fine.” Just this week, Elman appeared before a legislative committee regarding Bill 8, i.e. the public sector transparency act, to “repeat my calls for access to information to do my job in addressing a child or youth’s concerns.” Additionally, Elman asserted that unlike children’s advocates in other provinces, he’s even left in the dark when a child in care dies or is assaulted. He mentioned that “I read in the newspaper what happens to some of my children,” referring to an incident when a child living in a mental health centre was assaulted by a staff member who was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
As Elman applauded the proposal for limited ombudsman-like authority to investigate Children’s Aid Societies, he highlighted that it’s difficult to answer why same kinds of powers are not being extended to include young people in youth detention centres, mental health facilities or schools for the deaf, blind and severely disabled. His office is also responsible for First Nations and developmentally disabled children.
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