Some tragedies are unforeseen. This was not.
Jade’s death was the devastating but inevitable result of intentional decisions by this government.
This was not an accident or an act of god. This was the entirely predictable consequence of a government’s misplaced priorities and apathy to suffering leading to multiple failures in a system that is meant to keep children safe.
None of that detracts from the agony of the situation. Every child protection worker goes into this field to safeguard the most vulnerable. Jade, her family, and everyone who knew her deserved better.
But better does not only mean better child protection services. It means better communities and better care.
If our communities had better support for parents raising highly dysregulated, challenging children in need of extensive, often daily interventions, many families would never even receive a visit from a child protection worker.
Child care programs, community mental health programs, developmental services, and the John Howard Society would all have been a part of Jade’s community of care throughout her life. These are the same agencies, programs, services, and workers that are struggling with repeated often malicious cuts from this government.
How many times can Doug Ford hide behind his Minister’s claims of historic investments in child protection or trot out an audit as if that will solve these problems?
His government has cut social services spending, in real dollars, by 20.5 per cent since they came to power. Our province used to spend $1,495 on social services for every Ontarian; now we spend $1,189. That more than $300 deficit per person helps explain why there simply aren’t enough resources, supports, placements, or workers to keep families together and children safe.
No audit of children’s aid societies is going to fix this. Especially not when this government, and previous governments, have ignored hundreds of recommendations from coroner’s inquests into previous tragic, but preventable, deaths of children in this system.
We need to stop looking at this as simply a child protection problem. When parents are surrendering their kids because they don’t have the resources to care for them, when workers are being forced to place children in motels that are frequented by sex traffickers, when children struggling with addiction and depression can’t get mental health interventions, then the death of a child is not just a tragedy. It’s intentional neglect.
There was a plan created in 2021 to address this growing crisis. It was backed by families, experts, workers, and researchers. It went nowhere while the crisis has gotten worse.
A child dies every three days under Ontario’s care. That is the reality of Doug Ford’s Ontario. And responsibility for those death – including Jade’s – lies squarely with his government.
The time for performative politics is over. Talk is no longer enough. We need bold, decisive action.
Juanita Forde, Chair of the Social Service Workers Coordinating Committee (SSWCC) representing 5,000 CUPE child protection workers at 27 Children’s Aid Societies across the province.
