Under section 13.5 of the Fatalities Investigations Act, the Minister of Justice and Public Safety is required, after receiving a report from the Child Death Review Committee (CDRC), to make public those recommendations relating to:
- Relevant protocols, policies and procedures;
- Standards and legislation;
- Linkages and coordination of services; and
- Improvements to services affecting children and pregnant women.
The CDRC forwarded three reports to the Minister of Justice and Public Safety on March 30, 2026. These reports resulted in the following recommendations:
- The Departments of Justice and Public Safety, Health and Community Services and Education and Early Childhood Development collaboratively consider the following:
- Implement mandatory age-appropriate substance abuse education beginning in primary school.
- Expansion of the naloxone kit program to: (1) increase availability throughout the community including schools and (2) the inclusion of drug-testing strips in the kits to allow potential users to identify substances.
- Enhance and expand drug alert systems to ensure that the most up-to-date and relevant drug toxicity information is available to the public and schools.
- Explore initiatives to regulate children’s use of social media, including potential legislative solutions.
These reports have been forwarded to the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate.
-30-
2026 07 20
4:00 pm