Ontario Provincial Police and National Charity Teaming Up to Help Protect Children

New Kids Safety Booklet for Ontario Families


For Immediate Release

Winnipeg, MB – Today, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (Canadian Centre) signed an important agreement that highlights areas of collaboration to enhance the safety of children and youth in Ontario. The signed protocol, which solidifies a long-standing relationship, focuses on increasing personal safety education, child protection training, working together to support families of missing and sexually exploited children, and joint public awareness efforts.

“It’s essential that we work together to protect our kids,” said Lianna McDonald, Executive Director of the Canadian Centre. “We are thrilled to be working together with Commissioner Hawkes and the OPP in our joint efforts to increase the safety of our children.”

To kick start this significant alliance, the Canadian Centre developed a brand new safety tool called My First Safety Book for children between the ages 4–7. This fun and engaging activity book helps parents build their child’s personal safety skills. The OPP is raising awareness of this important activity book as well as distributing thousands of copies to families across Ontario.

“The Ontario Provincial Police is working diligently to protect children in our communities, but police cannot be everywhere at once,” says Commissioner Vince Hawkes, Ontario Provincial Police. “On behalf of the OPP, I am proud to partner with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection to train as many OPP officers and members of the public as possible about what each of us can do to prevent child victimization and sexual exploitation.”

The My First Safety Book covers important safety topics for discussion including:

  • Safe Grown-ups
  • Identifying and Labelling Feelings
  • Naming Body Parts
  • Developing Healthy Boundaries
  • OKAY and NOT OKAY SECRETS
  • How Do I Avoid Scaring My Child?

Download a copy of My First Safety Book by visiting protectchildren.ca/myfirstsafetybook.

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About the Canadian Centre for Child Protection: The Canadian Centre for Child Protection is a national charity dedicated to the personal safety and protection of children. Our goal is to reduce the sexual abuse and exploitation of children, assist in the location of missing children and to prevent child victimization. The Canadian Centre operates Cybertip.ca – Canada’s national tipline to report child sexual abuse and exploitation on the internet, as well as other prevention and intervention services to the Canadian public.

About Cybertip.ca: Since its inception in September 2002, Cybertip.ca has evolved as a central component of Canada’s national strategy to protect children from sexual exploitation on the internet. The tipline has responded to 245,000+ child sexual exploitation reports from the public and referred those reports to law enforcement for investigation, resulting in at least 514 individuals being arrested, hundreds of children being removed from abusive environments and the protection of countless children both within Canada and abroad. Cybertip.ca also provides education and awareness material to help keep Canadians safe, distributing more than 12 million safety resources free-of-charge to schools, law enforcement, child welfare, industry and other stakeholders over the past 15 years.

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