Ontario launches review of children’s aid societies [Video]

Ontario launched a review of the province’s 37 non-Indigenous children’s aid societies Wednesday after Premier Doug Ford suggested they are being financially mismanaged, but the unions representing CAS workers say it is a mere “smokescreen.”

Officials with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services say the review will look at issues such as the quality of protection the societies provide and their finances. As part of a background briefing Wednesday, they provided graphs that show annual funding for the sector steadily increased over the past decade to $1.7 billion this year, even as the number of children in care declined.

• Download our app to get alerts on your device

Ford indicated last week that his government was doing an audit, as he railed against “nightmare stories about the abuse of taxpayers’ money.” Officials said the process to look for an outside contractor to conduct the review was starting on Wednesday.

“I’ve heard stories of some of these agencies, …