Regulation - Minister

Proposed amendments to Ontario Regulation 156/18 under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 (CYFSA) to operationalize the CYFSA provisions relating to prevention-focused Indigenous service providers (PFISPs).

Regulation Number(s):
O. Reg 156/18 – General Matters Under the Authority of the Minister
Instrument Type:
Regulation - Minister
Bill or Act:
Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017
Summary of Proposal:
As part of the government's efforts to continue to implement the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy, a suite of Indigenous-specific amendments to the CYFSA received Royal Assent on March 3, 2022, as part of the Fewer Fees, Better Businesses Act, 2022. These included:

• s. 73.1 (Prevention-Focused Indigenous Service Providers),
• s. 73.2 (First Nations, Inuk or Métis child - complementary services),
• s. 73.3 (Circles of Supportive Persons); and
• s. 243, 247.1 and 347.1 (Customary Care).

The intent of these amendments, which do not yet have the force of law, is to increase First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, young persons and families' access to culturally responsive early intervention and prevention services, particularly when a First Nations, Inuit and Métis child does not have a clear connection to a band or community or who live far from their community.

To support this work towards operationalizing the March 2022 CYFSA amendments, the Ministry conducted more than 50 engagements over the course of the past two years. Engaged parties include representatives of children's aid societies, including Indigenous children's aid societies, the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies, Association of Native Child and Family Services Agencies of Ontario, the Ontario Indigenous Child and Youth Strategy First Nations Technical Table and Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous Service Providers Technical Table and First Nation representative tables.

At this time, the Ministry is proposing new regulatory provisions under Ontario Regulation 156/18 (O. Reg. 156/18) that would support the operationalization of the legislative amendments relating to PFISPs. The Ministry is proposing an in-force date of July 1, 2025, for both the proposed regulatory amendments and the proclamation of section 73.1 of the CYFSA.

The Ministry continues to review all feedback received to support the development of responsive policy proposals as it relates to complementary services, circles of supportive persons, and customary care legislative amendments under the CYFSA that were passed in March 2022.

Amendments Considered in this Proposal:

Currently, the Ministry is considering the following proposals and is seeking feedback:

Prevention-focused Indigenous Service Providers (PFISPs)

The proposed amendments to O. Reg. 156/18 establish a process for designating PFISPs. Designation is intended to recognize existing service providers that deliver key prevention supports to First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and families under the CYFSA. The objective is to enhance access to early intervention and prevention services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and families.

Enabling statutory recognition of a segment of service providers that provide supports to First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, young persons and families is intended to encourage the increased use of these prevention and early intervention services for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children and families.

Under section 73.1 of the CYFSA, the Minister may designate PFISPs, revoke designations, and must publish a publicly available list of designated PFISPs. Section 73.1(3) also provides that the Minister cannot designate children aid societies as PFISPs.

In this posting, the Ministry is communicating proposed amendments to O. Reg. 156/18 to establish the designation and revocation requirements for PFISPs and requirements for the Ministry administered public webpage. Specifically, these additions include:

• Organizational and programming requirements for an entity to be designated as a PFISP,
• Adding a requirement that the Ministry will maintain a public webpage with specified information about entities that have been designated as PFISPs,
• Outlining circumstances where a PFISP's designation may be revoked, and
• Specifying under O. Reg. 156/18, s. 6(1) that other services providers under CYFSA are to consider the supports offered by PFISPs when determining the availability of culturally responsive complementary services for a First Nations, Inuit and Métis child.

The designation of PFISPs is not intended to replace existing programs or services provided by bands or First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities. PFISPs will exist alongside services that are already offered by bands and communities. Service providers should already be considering these services when referring First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and families for supports. The designation of PFISPs is intended to enhance awareness of options available to services providers when making referrals for services that are culturally responsive to the needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, young persons, and families. Further, service providers will be able to access information about designated PFISPs through a publicly available webpage, providing greater clarity. This may be particularly important in instances when a First Nations, Inuit and Métis child is not able to identify a specific band or community or live far from their community.

The intent of the proposed amendments to the regulation is to bolster connections between First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and organizations that provide culturally responsive services. The proposed amendments are not intended to determine what constitutes culturally responsive programming. Rather, the focus is on entities demonstrating an ability for providing these types of services.

Designation Requirements

The Ministry is proposing amendments to O. Reg. 156/18 that establish criteria an entity seeking a PFISP designation must meet. Under the proposed amendments an entity will be required to submit documentation to the Ministry demonstrating that the entity:

1. Receives funding to deliver services funded under the CYFSA.
o This is proposed to help ensure that all entities designated as PFISPs have the capacity to deliver services.

2. be a not-for-profit agency incorporated under the Not-for-Profit Corporation Act, 2010, or its predecessor legislation.
o This is intended to scope the type of entities that can be designated as PFISPs.

3. provides services that recognize Indigenous cultures, heritages, traditions, connection to community and the concept of extended family.
o This is intended to help ensure that designated entities offer services that are culturally responsive to the needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, young persons, and families.
o A non-exhaustive list of the functions a PFISP may perform is set out at section 73.1(2) of the CYFSA

4. has a mandate to serve First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and families.
o This is intended to help ensure that designated entities' primary focus and function is to provide culturally responsive prevention services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, young persons and families.

The Ministry intends to outline application expectations to interested entities through an application guide. The purpose of the intended guide is to provide information to support applicants on how to meet the requirements.

Ministry Webpage

The proposed amendments to O. Reg. 156/18 establish an obligation on the Ministry to maintain a public-facing webpage that lists the designated PFISPs. The Ministry is proposing that the webpage include the following key information:
• Organization Name
• Date of designation
• Population(s) that they serve
• Geographical service area
• Contact information (e.g., phone number, mailing address, email, website)
• Description and function of the services they provide

The purpose of the webpage is to establish a central and accessible location where service providers and other interested parties can find information about designated PFISPs, and to increase referrals to them. This webpage will help streamline and simplify access to information for frontline staff when they are providing services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis children and families. Publishing and maintaining an up-to-date list of designated PFISPs is intended to reduce the amount of time service providers spend seeking information about culturally responsive prevention services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, young persons and families.

Designation Revocation

The proposed amendments also outline circumstances where a PFISP designation may be revoked, the proposed circumstances include when:
• an entity no longer meets the requirements to be designated as a PFISP; or
• an entity requests to be removed from the designation list.

These circumstances are intended to help ensure that, if there are major changes in the operations of an organization or its programming such that the organization no longer meets the requirements, there is an option for their designation to be revoked and removed from the Ministry webpage. Examples include an entity that changes their mandate, or the entity no longer has capacity to offer services, i.e., loses their funding status.

Complementary Services Referrals

In addition, the Ministry is proposing to amend s. 6(1) First Nations, Inuk or Métis child - complementary services of O. Reg. 156/18 to specify that other services providers under CYFSA consider the supports offered by PFISPs when determining the availability of complementary services. This is intended to help ensure that the services offered by PFISPs are considered alongside the ones offered by bands and First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.

The Ministry continues to review and analyze how PFISPs may be integrated into other provisions of the CYFSA and its regulations to determine how future regulatory changes may integrate PFISPs into existing CYFSA structures.
Analysis of Regulatory Impact:
The proposed regulations described in this posting are not expected to result in any significant new compliance costs to regulated entities. These changes do not alter existing practices and obligations that CYFSA service providers are already expected to follow when providing services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, young persons, and families. However, these changes create an option for entities providing culturally responsive prevention-focused services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, young persons and their families to seek a PFISP designation to help grow their profile and increase awareness of their services amongst other CYFSA service providers.

Expected costs

Anticipated costs include administrative application processes for entities seeking designation.

The proposed amendment to s. 6(1) First Nations, Inuk or Métis child - complementary services of O. Reg. 156/18 to include PFISPs may result in some one-time minor compliance costs for impacted CYFSA service providers. Minor costs may be associated with raising awareness initially about the new regulations and the Ministry webpage and incorporating changes into operational policies and processes. Overall, these compliance costs are expected to be minimal as there are existing requirements under section 6 of O. Reg.156/18 with respect to complementary services, and CYFSA service providers are expected to already have established practices for connecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children they serve to programs and services that are culturally responsive through other requirements in the CYFSA and O. Reg.156/18.The Ministry anticipates that these costs will be mitigated over the longer term.

Expected benefits

Over the medium-term, the designation of PFISPs and the creation of a webpage that informs other service providers and the public about the number of PFISPs, their location and the services they offer is expected to reduce administrative hours. In particular, it is expected that less hours will be spent by other service providers researching potential prevention-focused service providers in order to comply with the requirements under the regulations to support First Nations, Inuit and Métis children in accessing culturally responsive services. As other service providers and their staff become familiar with the webpage, they will have one-window access to information about complementary services provided by PFISPs for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children that may be interested in accessing services from a PFISP. In the longer-term, the Ministry projects that increased referrals to PFISPs could reduce the need for protective services.

Primarily, regulatory impacts of this proposal will impact the Ministry, which will be required to review applications sent in by individual entities applying to be designated a PFISP. In addition, the Ministry will be required to maintain a public webpage.

Taken together, the Ministry is currently estimating a reduction of -$1.720M total direct compliance costs per annum across all affected entities in the child and family service sector. The Ministry recognizes that the estimated cost changes may impact individual service providers differently depending on their size, scale and service population. If the proposed regulatory amendments are made, the Ministry will continue to examine the costs and benefits of the amendments and will update the analysis as required.
Further Information:
Proposal Number:
24-MCCSS018
Posting Date:
November 19, 2024
Comments Due Date:
January 17, 2025
Contact Address:
4th Floor, 101 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S 2Z7