(Minister Of Community and Social Services Todd Smith in the Ontario Legislature) Under the noses of the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services, NGO’s that are supporting the disabled are using US based virtual private networks during the pandemic when staff are working from home.  This is a major security risk to the privacy of those these NGO’s serve.  It is well known that the US captures all internet communications between Canada and the US.  US based VPN’s are also not subjected to Canadian privacy legislation and law. Furthermore the Ministry of Community and S ..read more

  One of the major issues facing school board accountability in Ontario is that when school boards appoint trustees, boards tend to favor appointees who are friendly with the board and tend to vote with the board.  In politics it’s extremely hard to unseat an incumbent, so many board appointees have somewhat of a leg up on other potential candidates during elections. Over the course of the past several months, the trustees at the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) have come under fire for misuse of travel expenses, appointment of an unprecedented multi-million dollar contract ..read more

Micheal Coteau the Ontario Minister of Children and Youth Services as been somewhat like a Sasquatch to many in the autism community.  There have been reported sightings, but often those reports come with fuzzy details, and then he seems to vanish into the wilderness of Queen’s Park.  Almost a year has passed since Coteau took the reins on developing the new Ontario Autism Program (OAP), and he hasn’t met with a broad swath of parents, nor has adequately addressed concerns. Last Thursday I participated in what I hope to be many teleconference town halls put together by Coteau and hi ..read more

(Autism Parents Say MCYS is still cutting therapy from kids 5 and up) In an open letter to the Ontario Minister of Children and Youth Services, several parents of autistic kids say they’ve been duped by the province into thinking that funding was restored for intensive therapy for kids over 5. Last year Ontario Premiere Kathleen Wynne decided to cut funding for intensive behavioral intervention therapy for kids over the age of 5, which sparked heated protests from parents, and support for parents concerns from both opposition parties, experts and the public.  After months of  tremen ..read more

  The York Region District School Board [YRDSB] has set its “community consultation” on how to fill the vacant seat in Georgina for March 23rd, 2017.  This is remarkably right after March break, when most parents are getting caught up on other things, and very little notification is being given out, so I’m not sure if this consultative process will be an accurate representation of Georgina as a result. What the YRDSB is NOT telling parents and citizens is that any costs associated with t a by-election will not cost the tax payers extra money.  The board has a “contingency fund ..read more

YRDSB Chair Loralea Carruthers (right) Still Dealing with Massive Public Confidence Issues This past week there was much indecision at the York Region District School Board [YRDSB] on how to fill former Trustee Nancy Elgie’s seat, punting the ball in an unprecedented move to the people of Georgina.  Trustee Elgie stepped down last month after being caught making a racial slur to a black parent in a meeting regarding systemic racism at the board.  The YRDSB has two options under law.  One is to appoint a trustee; another is to hold a by-election. Both options are being put to th ..read more

  I haven’t blogged in a bit, but with all the political talk now-a-days surrounding the teachers strikes in Ontario, I wanted to share an exchange with an union member I had recently.  I’ve written a lot about education issues on this blog over the years, and felt the need to pipe up now. Photo’s (not the one used in this post, and this photo is of an actual classroom that the teacher allowed to kids to mess up) have surfaced by education union members of trashed classrooms citing the need for more funds and adequate support. I did a lot of advocacy around student safety over the past decade ..read more