Children are at risk of being left in abusive homes and are facing higher suicide rates in at least one part of northern Ontario as Children's Aid Societies in the province run out of money to provide adequate care, critics charged Wednesday.
"Eighty people have attempted suicide — the youth of James Bay — in the last year alone, 11 of whom were successful," NDP critic Gilles Bisson said in the legislature Wednesday.
"We cannot continue going this way. We can't keep on going to funeral after funeral on the James Bay because of (the government's) inability to deal with this."
Bisson said afterward the severity of the crisis had taken him aback when he visited Moosonee and Moose Factory last week.
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"We've always had problems with suicide with those communities but it's epidemic," he said.
"We haven't got time to play around with this. We need to make sure that we put the resources in place so that when a child cries for help, that child gets somebody to sit with them and is able to make them safe."
Some Children's Aid Societies in Ontario have started laying off staff and warned they could go bankrupt in the face of a $67-million shortfall.
The Payukotayno James and Hudson Bay Family Services office in northern Ontario has sent layoff notices to its 120 staff, and said that office will close its doors the week of Dec. 16 unless it receives operating funds.
York Region Children's Aid Society has also issued layoff notices to 18 staff on Nov. 10, while Kenora-Patricia Child and Family Services is also issuing layoff notices and will run out of operating funds in the third week of December.
Children's Aid Societies in several other areas face funding shortfalls, and they're contemplating cuts to core services including abuse prevention programs and court-ordered visits to children in foster and residential care.
CAS spokesman Marcelo Gomez-Wiuckstern said the agencies are mandated by law to provide a certain level of service and, in order to avoid breaking those laws, must shut their doors when those standards cannot be met.
"Agencies know too well what it means for children (when they fail to provide services)," he said.
"Without the proper funds to deliver that level of service children are put at risk."
While Gomez-Wiuckstern agrees that the current funding models aren't working, he's frustrated with the lack of action by the government, noting a promised commission to deal with the issue has yet to get off the ground.
"There's no time to waste, there are agencies that are cutting back on the services now," he said.
Premier Dalton McGuinty wouldn't commit to new money Wednesday, saying his government has increased funds by 30 per cent while the caseload has only gone up by one per cent on average.
"I would argue (there's been) a dramatic increase in overall funding, but to be fair to some of the Children's Aid Societies, that may not be balanced right across the province," McGuinty said.
"It may be that the one in the north is experiencing much heavier demand than some in the south for example, and if that's the case, we may have to reorganize the funding so it's better suited to what's happening on the front lines."
Minister of Children and Youth Services Laurel Broten said dealing with the funding shortfalls at Children's Aid was one of her top priorities, but added that such complex and long-standing issues would take some time.
"We will not put kids at risk, but we must, because of our desire to protect Ontario's kids, find a way to ensure that Children's Aid Societies can operate in a sustainable fashion," she said.
Agencies in northern Ontario have received some of the largest cutbacks and are facing a collective shortfall of $16.9 million, according to CAS.
Bisson said Payukotayno needs $3.7 million to provide the basic services required, partly because they cover such a large area that one visit to one child could cost thousands of dollars in airfare.
He also rejected the notion that the agencies would simply have to do more with less in the wake of a record $25-billion deficit, pointing to the billions spent to bail out General Motors and Chrysler, and reports of money being wasted on the eHealth scandal and an $81-million power plant for a casino in Windsor.
"You've got kids that are in crisis, you've got kids that are attempting suicide. Why? Because nobody's listening to them," he said.
"They are crying out for help and there's no ability to be able to respond."