Canadian Centre for Child Protection resources to support Erin’s Law

Canadian Centre for Child Protection and Ontario School Boards — A Shared Commitment to Child Protection

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) is a national charity dedicated to safeguarding children. C3P is proud of our longstanding relationship with Ontario school boards, working together to enhance child safety and build capacity with child sexual abuse prevention initiatives.

What is Erin’s Law

Erin’s Law aims to enhance child sexual abuse prevention and reporting for students, school staff, and parents and is named after child sexual abuse survivor and advocate Erin Merryn. It has been adopted in Ontario through an amendment to the Education Act.

Ontario Legislation and C3P: Classroom Lessons

Kids in the Know

Kids in the Know (KIK) is C3P’s bilingual, evidence-based, safety education program with lessons designed for students from kindergarten to high school. Lessons are engaging, developmentally appropriate, and interactive.

The purpose of the program is to help educators teach children and youth effective personal safety strategies to help prevent child sexual abuse. Lessons build resiliency skills, reducing children’s likelihood of victimization online and offline, and help children identify safe adults and how to get help.

KIK in Ontario Schools

• Successfully completed an independent pilot by the Council of Ontario Directors of Education (CODE), facilitated through the Ontario Department of Education
• Approved by Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (OPHEA)
• More than 90% of Ontario boards have schools using the program
• Online PD for teachers developed with support from Ontario mental health leads

Kids in the Know is aligned with the Ontario curriculum and incorporates evidence-based strategies specifically designed to keep children safe. At Kenora Catholic, we have witnessed firsthand how the skills taught in Kids in the Know have been applied in real-world situations. These lessons have proven instrumental in equipping our students with the tools to recognize and report inappropriate adult behavior, empowering them to understand what is unacceptable and encouraging them to seek support from another trusted adult.*

Ontario Legislation and C3P: Information for Parents/Caregivers

Resources and Information

C3P provides prevention resources to help parents and caregivers keep children safe from online and offline child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Supports Available

C3P’s Support Services team is available to help families whose child has been sexually victimized online. This may include those who have been victimized by luring, sextortion, and non-consensual distribution of intimate images, or who have had child sexual abuse images shared online.

The resources provided by C3P are timely and relevant, addressing current trends observed across Canada. They offer straightforward strategies, broken down by age, which families can easily implement to further support their children's safety. KCDSB takes comfort in knowing that we are guiding families toward a resource that remains current and up-to-date in the field of childhood sexual abuse prevention, ensuring that our communities are equipped with the tools they need to protect and empower children.*

Ontario Legislation and C3P: Information for School Staff

Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Training

Online Training

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) offers two versions of Commit to Kids: Child Sexual Abuse Prevention training which can be taken on an annual basis by all staff in schools. C3P’s online trainings vary in length from 25 minutes to three hours, providing flexible training options.

For several years, boards in Ontario have been using C3P child sexual abuse prevention training. Benefits of the program include:

• online, on demand, and easy to access
• records of completion/participation
• completion reports for school board administration

C3P is an organization with expertise in developing evidence-based, trauma-informed prevention education resources and a strong reputation with educators and school administrators. Its training is widely used within Canada.

In the last few years, more than 300,000 professionals in Ontario have engaged with our training including members of the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) and the College of Early Childhood Educators (CECE), through the Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (SAPP).

The Commit to Kids training goes beyond building awareness of how to recognize and respond to suspicion of child sexual abuse. The training also raises awareness about the importance of maintaining professional boundaries as a way of modelling for students what a healthy relationship with a caring adult looks like and feels like, so that they can recognize when something is off. The training also raises a sense of accountability for professionals in regards to noticing and reporting boundary transgressions as one part of a larger safety net protecting students from abuse.*

Reporting Concerns

School boards have robust policies in place to address reports of child sexual abuse and concerns should be handled within the scope of board and provincial reporting regulations.

With ever-changing technology concerns and risks, boards may be less sure about steps to take when the child victimization intersects with technology. C3P programs and services can help.

Survivor Support Services

C3P’s Support Services team is available to help schools, boards and families who are supporting a child or youth who has been sexually victimized online. This may include those who have been victimized by luring, sextortion, and non-consensual distribution of intimate images, or who have had child sexual abuse images shared online.

NeedHelpNow.ca

A website and service that supports youth who have been negatively impacted by the distribution (or threat of distribution) of a nude image online or other forms of online sexual violence.

Cybertip.ca

Cybertip.ca is Canada’s tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children as part of Public Safety Canada’s National Strategy for the Protection of Children on the Internet. If you have concerns about shared intimate images, online luring, and other areas involving child victimization on the internet, we can help.

The information provided is for informational purposes only.
It is not intended as a legal or professional advice.

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* The testimonials featured on this webpage reflect the experiences and opinions of the individuals quoted. These experiences are not intended to guarantee or represent that others will achieve the same results. Readers are encouraged to consult independent sources and use their own judgement when considering any of the C3P resources, services or programs referenced above.

All testimonials are provided voluntarily and are used with the express consent of the individuals involved. Any identifying details have been used with their consent.