Bill 297 explained in plain English
Centering Youth in Pandemic Recovery Act, 2021
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 297 requires the Premier to develop a Post-Pandemic Child & Youth Action Plan, establishes a COVID-19 Recovery Youth Secretariat, and creates a standing committee to review these initiatives.
This bill, titled the Centering Youth in Pandemic Recovery Act, 2021, requires the Premier of Ontario to create and publish a plan to help children, youth, and young adults recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. This plan must be developed with input from youth leaders and experts. It also establishes a Youth Secretariat to help with the plan and review legislation for its impact on young people. A legislative committee will also be formed to review the action plan and the Secretariat's work.
- Requires the Premier of Ontario to develop and publish a Post-Pandemic Child & Youth Action Plan.
- Mandates that the Action Plan be created in consultation with youth leaders and experts in education, child development, and mental health.
- Requires the Action Plan to include ongoing data collection on the pandemic's effects on children and youth, with a focus on disproportionately affected groups.
- Requires the Action Plan to set goals for mitigating pandemic effects, addressing inequalities, and supporting youth well-being.
- Requires the Action Plan to outline how government ministries will coordinate programs and services for youth recovery.
- Requires the Premier to review the Action Plan every two years and make amendments as necessary.
- Establishes the COVID-19 Recovery Youth Secretariat.
- Assigns the Secretariat the function of assisting the Premier with the Action Plan's development, revision, and implementation.
- Assigns the Secretariat the function of reviewing all new legislation and regulations to assess their potential impact on the well-being of children, youth, and young adults.
- Requires the Secretariat to report bi-annually to a standing committee.
- Establishes a standing committee of the Legislative Assembly.
- Assigns the standing committee the function of reviewing the Action Plan's development, revision, and implementation every two years.
- Assigns the standing committee the function of reviewing data and research from the COVID-19 Recovery Youth Secretariat.
- Requires the standing committee to report to the Legislative Assembly every two years.
- Children in Ontario
- Youth in Ontario
- Young adults in Ontario
- Premier of Ontario
- Members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
- Youth leaders
- Experts in education, child development, and mental health
- Government ministries in Ontario
- Black youth
- Indigenous youth
- Other racialized youth
- Low-income youth
- LGBTQ2S+ youth
- Youth with disabilities
- Newcomer and refugee youth
- Youth in care
- The Premier has an obligation to develop and publish a Post-Pandemic Child & Youth Action Plan.
- The Premier has an obligation to consult with youth leaders and experts when developing the Action Plan.
- The Premier has an obligation to review the Action Plan every two years.
- The COVID-19 Recovery Youth Secretariat has an obligation to assist the Premier with the Action Plan.
- The COVID-19 Recovery Youth Secretariat has an obligation to review legislation and regulations for their impact on youth well-being.
- The COVID-19 Recovery Youth Secretariat has an obligation to report to the standing committee.
- A standing committee has an obligation to review the Action Plan every two years.
- A standing committee has an obligation to review the Secretariat's data and research.
- A standing committee has an obligation to report to the Legislative Assembly every two years.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The bill does not specify the exact composition or appointment process for the standing committee beyond proportional party representation.
- The bill does not detail the specific process or criteria for selecting 'youth leaders' for consultation, though it notes a predominance from equity-seeking groups.
- The bill does not specify the exact format or content of the reports to be made by the Secretariat and the standing committee beyond stating they should occur bi-annually or every two years.
This is the law being created by this bill, which establishes the requirements for the Premier's action plan, the Youth Secretariat, and the standing committee.
Source: Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
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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.
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