SHELTERS: Temporary housing

eight dogs. McEvoy says children are not allowed to live at the site.

McEvoy says the region is exploring ways that residents will contribute to being there, potentially through the shelter portion of Ontario Works or ODSP payments.

While at the outdoor shelter site, residents will also be connected to the Working Centre’s Job Café program, which provides help for people outside the traditional job pool to find work.

“People living here will be invited into that program and they will be participating in the cleaning and upkeep of this space, and getting paid for it,” said Jay Straus, the transitional housing lead with the Working Centre. There is no maximum length of stay, though the program has a rough timeline of two years when it will be re-evaluated.

McEvoy said once this site is set up and running, the region will evaluate to see if similar sites in Kitchener and Cambridge would be advisable.

The Working Centre staff and volunteers will be providing food to the residents. The centre staff will put out a call for any specific items needed at the site. If people want to donate food, Straus suggests donating food or funds to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, which supplies the food they use to distribute to their programs.

McEvoy says this tempo -

EDUCATION: Province looks to alter curriculum, take more control of process

rary outdoor shelter site is another tool to tackle the region’s housing problem. Other temporary housing solutions the region uses include transitional housing, home-based supports like scattered-site supportive housing, which are housing units with rental supplements and supports, and emergency shelters. Funding for the outdoor site will be from the municipal levy and other sources, says McEvoy.

McEvoy was clear to state that the region and the partners are working on longer-term solutions as well as short-term solutions at the same time.

The region staff are working on a ‘Plan to End Homelessness,’ with the first step being to gather representatives from all the organizations and people who need to be at the table, including people with lived experience of homelessness.

“As we work on this community-led and determined plan for what it’s going to take for our communities to end chronic homelessness in terms of collaboration and resources, what is it going to take? As we pull together that community-led plan, we know we also can’t wait for that plan to take shape, we need to do something in the here and now. And so that’s where Erb’s Road fits into the interim solutions, as well as the longerterm plan to end chronic homelessness in Waterloo Region,” said McEvoy.

decisions for educators convicted of a criminal offense and expanding eligibility for therapy funding to all students that have been impacted by sexual abuse by teachers through the Ontario College of Teachers (OTC)

Finally, the bill would “strengthen parent involvement” by “authorizing the minister to require school boards to provide parent-friendly information about their child’s education.”

While the OTC supported the announcement, several unions, including the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), voiced their opposition to the plan.

“I think most educators feel frustrated that frontline education workers have not been consulted in many of the announcements that this government makes,” said Jeff Pelich, president of ETFO Waterloo.

“We’re looking for consultation with frontline workers, frontline education workers, and we’re looking for actual investments in public education.”

His comments echo a statement from the provincial union, which claimed the legislation was drafted without their input.

“We were asked to provide input by mid-May. But given their track record, we do not believe the request for feedback is genuine. The voices of

ETFO’s 83,000 members, who have a vested interest in better student outcomes, deserve to be heard,” the ETFO said in a release.

However, Diana Miles, chair of council for the OTC, said the act would better equip the college to serve the public.

“Protecting the well-being of Ontario’s more than two million students is the college’s top priority,” she said.

The college’s mandate as Ontario’s teaching regulator is to serve and protect the public interest by protecting the safety and well-being of students, said senior communications officer Andrew Fifield.

“As such, we are supportive of legislation that will strengthen our capacity to do so by enhancing the college’s investigation and discipline processes. For example, providing the College’s Investigation Committee with increased authority to order remedial training or education for members,” Fifield said.

Bill 98 does include proposed amendments that the college requested “improve our investigation and disciplinary processes and better protect student safety and well-being,” Fifield said.

He added that it would be inappropriate for the OTC to comment on the position of other organizations or stakeholders.

Both school boards in Waterloo Region declined to comment on the act, with chief managing officer for the Catholic School Board John Shewchuk saying via email that “The boards senior team has not yet had an opportunity to review the legislation or to understand the implications of what it may or may not mean for our schools and students.”

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According to Peilch, the announcement was born from the 157 recommendations in the Ontario Human Right Commission’s Right to Read report, released last year.

“[Being] able to read is the great equalizer.

The same week as Bill 98 was unveiled, the ministry announced $180 million in funding, including $71 million for a new math plan and $109 million to boost literacy rates.

Under the plan, the province will support more than 300 educators to support student learning in math, double the number of school math coaches in classrooms, and hire one math lead per board to aid in the implementation of the math curriculum. It will also cover the costs of additional math qualification courses for teachers.

The province will introduce an overhauled language curriculum in September of 2023, including early reading screening requirements for all students in year two of kindergarten to Grade 2, along with a standardized and fully funded screening tool and training for educators. It will also fund additional specialist teachers for those who need additional support in reading. It will also invest in almost 700 educators.

While Pelich welcomed the additional educators to improve literacy skills, he noted the funding is

We know that and so the minister’s announcement really looks at one of those 150 recommendations and that is the investments in reading screening tools.

And, unfortunately, that is not enough,” he said.

Pelich called for additional funding per student, saying that funding only went up 0.83 per cent per cent compared to inflation estimated at around 6.8 per cent.

“We have huge concerns, because that means cuts to education, that means school boards are going to struggle to pay the bills. The shortterm investments are not enough to actually address the concerns,” he said.

While the ministry made both announcements under the guise of bringing more consistency to the education system, Pelich disagreed.

“We already have a consistently mandated curriculum across all school boards. We already have expectations about the topics that are supposed to be covered and how we’re supposed to be addressing them. The government’s new interventions do very little to actually improve transparency.”