Kennedy House, Local 361, on strike
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO
Monday, June 12, 2006
YOUNG OFFENDER FACILITY
Mr. Peter Kormos (Niagara Centre):
A question to the Premier: Kennedy House has a history of problems that
your government has long been aware of. The government failed to act on
the operational review and the problems identified there that were
revealed in 2003. Now there's a strike on your watch, the third labour
dispute at Kennedy House in five years. You talk a big game about
investing in youth justice and being tough on gun crimes and gangs, yet
you sit back and do nothing to fix the problems at a facility that has
housed, and where you obviously intend to continue to house, some of our
province's most dangerous young offenders. What are you going to do in
terms of addressing these issues and ensuring that these labour disputes
are resolved promptly?
Hon. Dalton McGuinty (Premier, Minister of Research and
Innovation):
To the Minister for Children and Youth Services.
Hon. Mary Anne V. Chambers (Minister of Children and Youth
Services):
The member has raised this issue previously in the House. At that time,
I shared with him the fact that the children who have been in custody at
Kennedy House have been located elsewhere. So they are where they need
to be.
Kennedy House is a transfer payment
agency, paid by this government, and has responsibility for working this
out with their staff and their union. Quite frankly, I don't see any
reason why we should intervene in this matter.
If, at the end of the fiscal year, it
proves to be the case that our funding should be reviewed, we will do
so. But in the meantime, the children whom they are supposed to be
caring for in custody have been relocated.
Mr. Kormos:
Minister, these are children who have been convicted of murder, robbery,
rape, other sexual assaults. This is the 11th week of a strike. It's the
third strike in five years. Kennedy House has a history of labour
relations that is poor, to say the least. It's not doing the job you're
paying it to do. Why would you maintain a relationship with it? Why have
you not responded to the concerns raised in the review? The executive
director was told to treat the Ajax youth centre as an immediate
priority and create a plan with an aim to avoid future problems. That
wasn't done. You've been in power three years and you've made all sorts
of splashy announcements. Why won't you insist and ensure that the
recommendations of the operational review be complied with, that Kennedy
House maintain a relationship with its staff that allows it to
accommodate these dangerous young offenders or cut them loose and
terminate your relationship with them?
Hon. Mrs. Chambers:
Again, I'll repeat that this dispute is between Kennedy House, the
employer, and their staff. This is a transfer payment agent
organization, and if they don't deliver the services, they will not be
compensated for services they don't deliver. My priority is the care of
the kids who are being held in custody, and they are not at Kennedy
House right now; they have been relocated. It's up to Kennedy House and
the union representing their employees to work out their dispute.
I have personally visited Kennedy House
in Ajax. It's a beautiful facility. At that time, everyone was there,
working together. I was actually quite impressed by what I saw. These
kinds of disputes arise from time to time, and it's entirely up to
employers and their union representatives to work these out. Government
should not be intervening in everything. It's up to the employers and
the union representatives to work these things out.
Kennedy House
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