Debates of March 13, 2019 (day 70)

Topics
Statements

Question 696-18(3): Online Safety for Children

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have risen on the floor of this House to address the concerns of parents around the safety for their children in online environments. I am wondering if the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment can tell me what efforts the department has undertaken to ensure parents are aware of the risks and have the appropriate tools to respond to any concerns. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Speaker: MR. SPEAKER

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes. We definitely work within our schools. We start with our Safe and Caring Schools. We provide work around informing students about bullying, supporting each other, et cetera. We re-enforce to students when they are bullied in any way on media and the Internet, et cetera, to notify the school, and we will address that. That is one piece of it.

We also do a lot more areas. We have a media smart, I believe it is called, that is available to all of the JK to 12 that people can use to inform on Internet safety. We have specialized programs for grade fours that they can actually get training on internet usage and then the high schools, as well. Part of that package also actually provides a package to parents to support their youth in Internet safety. It gives them tips around: keep your internet in a public area; don't let them have them in their room; watch what they are doing; limit times; et cetera. I expand on that because it is not only in schools that this is happening. This is happening in homes and communities. It is not only the school. Community-wide, we need to be diligent about what our children are watching on the Internet. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister. I know from my own knowledge working with the school boards that they are very good to supporting to parents at most times. Is there any work being undertaken to strengthen the curriculum that is offered to students in these learning environments? I know that my son, for example, is learning how to use computers and the Internet. He has a Google account. These are things that I didn't expect a nine-year-old to have, but he has them. Is there a focus from the department on looking at those curriculums and making sure that they are providing appropriate tools to our children?

Yes, we are always looking at upgrading what we are doing within the school curriculum. That is a normal thing.

I would like to go back to what we do for our grade four to eight students. We actually focus on five modules that provide on social networking, they talk about privacy, they talk about tricks of the trade for online advertisers, authentication skills, and judging reliably with a mock search engine, safe and wise web surfing, and the ethical use of messaging. For high school students, we use the MyWorld curriculum. There are four chapters, and they aim, again, to teach the authentication of online information, to manage your reputation and privacy online, dealing with online relationships, and acting ethically online. Again, at that age, for the high school students, we really focus on what you put out there might not be private.

We are always looking to expand and to update our curriculum, especially with technology. It changes quickly, so it is something that we monitor on a regular basis.

I know that the Minister is fond of saying, "Nothing for us without us." How are students involved in this process, and what are the feedback mechanisms that either the school boards, or the department has working in conjunction with the school boards, and the district education authorities, to ensure that students have an ability to provide feedback to these materials and so that our policies and our supports to families and our kids are informed by young people's own experiences with the Internet and other material?

I will have to get back to the Member on that. We have 10 education authorities. We usually provide the curriculum. I am not exactly sure how they get the student feedback, but I take note, and I am expecting that they do get student feedback. If not, then I will put that forward as a recommendation. I will get back to the Member and find out if we currently do, and if we don't, my recommendation at the next education leaders meeting will be that they get as much feedback from students as possible on all topics.