Protecting students from sexual misconduct and pornography

By MPP Toby Barrett               

An imperative of society is to protect our most vulnerable. Our children are our future, and we must do all we can to make sure they have a chance to grow and prosper, and to do so without fear of harm.

People have always been concerned about the safety of their children with respect to sexual misconduct and child pornography. Society has measures in place, and the police are empowered to put a spotlight on these issues. There are checks and balances in place and measure to assess risk, mitigate risk, and monitor people who may be offending.

In 2011, The Toronto Star published a series of articles that looked into issues around the disciplinary measures taken by the Ontario College of Teachers. Specifically, they found there was less and less transparency around how these issues were being dealt with. In the Star’s words, they found that, “more and more, the identity of bad teachers is being kept secret.”

Bill 37, the Protecting Students Act, amends the Ontario College of Teachers Act and the Early Childhood Educators Act to continue to implement recommendations stemming from the 2012 LeSage Report.

But, despite some improvements contained in Bill 37, the question arises: Why has it taken the government so long to move on this file? The recommendations from LeSage report were made four years ago.

The bill mandates hearings before deciding on revoking a teacher’s licence, and, hearings to reinstate someone back into the system if they’ve been convicted. In the past, a teacher could reapply to reacquire teaching status after one year from the date the licence had been revoked.

My question: Do we have confidence in the membership of the committee that conducts these hearings? Will there be experts in this field? Should there be someone on this panel from children’s aid or a lawyer or a psychologist or an expert in child abuse or pedophilia?

A number of speakers have raised the issue of teachers or early childhood educators being falsely accused. It is incumbent on us to ensure that those kinds of protections are in place as well.

This fall I watched Indictment: The McMartin Trial. It’s a film based on a 1980’s court case in California, where members of the McMartin family were charged and jailed for alleged sexual molestation and abuse of children in their family-run preschool.

This ended up being one of the most expensive and longest-running criminal trials in US legal history. Their guilt had already been established by the media, aided and abetted by the prosecutor and what was portrayed as an unprofessional therapist who assisted the children to fabricate stories of abuse. All charges were eventually dropped after years of sex abuse hysteria.

People have been falsely accused and we must make sure we are protecting all concerned – students and teachers. With respect to the issue of false accusations, we are told details will be set out in regulation.

The importance of Bill 37 cannot be underestimated. We owe it to our students, our children and our grandchildren to eliminate any risk to their safety. We owe it to our teachers to create a better environment for them through an improved system that will more effectively protect good teachers and punish those who do harm.