Skip to main content
Back to Bills
OntarioPassed41st Parliament, 1st Session

Bill 117 explained in plain English

Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Amendment Act, 2015

Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.

At a glance

Jurisdiction
Ontario Legislature
Legislature / Parliament
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Session
41st Parliament, 1st Session
Bill number
Bill 117
Full title
Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Amendment Act, 2015
Current status
Passed
Latest event
Royal Assent received
Last updated
Dec 10, 2015

Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 41st Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.

Chamber
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Current Stage
Royal Assent received
Latest Activity
Dec 10, 2015
Plain-language explanation
In plain English (our explanation)

Our plain-language take, written for civic education.

Source: By PoliticalData.ca

AI-assisted, reviewed before publishing
Short Version

This bill amends the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Act, 2007, to create new notification requirements for agencies and service providers regarding the death or serious bodily harm of a child or youth who recently received services from a children's aid society.

What It Means

Bill 117, the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Amendment Act, 2015, requires agencies and service providers to notify the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth (the Advocate) when a child or youth dies or suffers serious bodily harm, if the child or youth, or their family, had received services from a children's aid society within the 12 months prior to the incident. These agencies and providers must also give the parents and the child (if applicable) contact information for the Advocate. The bill also states that this new requirement does not affect existing duties to report suspicions under the Child and Family Services Act.

What This Bill Does
  • Amends the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Act, 2007.
  • Requires agencies and service providers to inform the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth in writing and without unreasonable delay about the death or serious bodily harm of a child or youth.
  • This notification is required if the child or youth, or their family, had sought or received services from a children's aid society within 12 months before the death or harm.
  • Requires agencies and service providers to provide parents of the affected child or youth with information about the Advocate and their contact details.
  • Requires agencies and service providers to provide the affected child or youth (if they suffered serious bodily harm) with information about the Advocate and their contact details.
  • Clarifies that these new requirements do not affect existing duties to report suspicions under section 72 of the Child and Family Services Act.
Who Is Affected
  • Agencies
  • Service providers
  • Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth
  • Children
  • Youth
  • Families of children and youth
  • Children's aid societies
Rights, Duties, Or Obligations
  • Agencies and service providers have a duty to inform the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth of a child's or youth's death or serious bodily harm under specific circumstances.
  • Agencies and service providers have a duty to provide information about the Advocate and their contact details to the parents and, if applicable, the child.
  • The existing duty to report suspicions under the Child and Family Services Act remains unaffected.
Important Dates
  • The Act received Royal Assent on December 10, 2015.
  • The Act comes into force six months after receiving Royal Assent.
Uncertainties Or Limits
  • The bill does not specify what constitutes 'unreasonable delay' in providing notification.
  • The bill does not define 'serious bodily harm'.
Laws Or Regulations Affected
Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth Act, 2007
amends

Adds a new section (18.1) that creates new obligations for agencies and service providers to report deaths or serious bodily harm of children and youth to the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, and to provide contact information for the Advocate to the affected families and children. It also adds a commencement provision to the Act.

Source: Section 1

Child and Family Services Act
references

Clarifies that the new reporting requirements in Bill 117 do not override existing duties to report suspicions of child abuse or neglect under section 72 of this Act.

Source: Section 18.1 (3)

Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.

Official text

Process Snapshot

Step 1
First reading
Sep 14, 2015
Step 2
Second reading
Sep 17, 2015
Step 3
Committee review
Dec 1, 2015
Step 4
Third reading
Dec 7, 2015
Step 5
Royal assent
Dec 10, 2015

Vote Summary

No published recorded division

This bill does not have a published recorded division in the current official sources, so representative-by-representative vote counts are not shown.

Sponsor
Monique Taylor
Sponsor party or district not listed
Jurisdiction
Ontario Legislature

No published representative vote breakdown

The current official sources do not publish a recorded division breakdown for this bill, so there is no representative-by-representative table to show.

Official sources

Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.

How this data is sourced