More public-sector workers ringing alarm on killer cuts to services

This week has seen another round of warnings from health and social service workers who say cuts to public services are endangering peoples' lives and safety.

In Ontario, CUPE is pointing to inadequate staffing in the province's nursing homes as a factor behind recent incidents in which residents of long-term care homes were beaten, and one killed, by fellow residents. The union is calling for a legislated minimum care standard that all long-term care homes would be required to meet, to prevent future tragedies.

Last year, more than 1,500 families were approved in Ontario as potential adoptive parents, 822 adoptions finalized. Yet the need for adoptive parents for children and youth in the care of Ontario’s Children’s Aid Societies still remains extraordinarily high.

“There are more than 9,200 Crown wards in Ontario and every one of them deserves a permanent family,” said Jeanette Lewis, Executive Director, Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies. “Many of these children can be adopted given the right match.”