2026 AMO Delegations Briefing - Issue Report

Report To:                         Manitoulin-Sudbury District Services Board

From:                                     Donna Stewart, CAO

Date:                                       May 21, 2026

Re:                                           2026 AMO Delegations Briefing - Issue Report

Strategic Plan Goal:  2. Transform How We Work
Objective:                          2.1 Leverage data and analytics to inform decisions, support advocacy and improve service design

Strategic Plan Goal:  2. Tranform How We Work
Objective:                          2.4 Strengthen our pressence by improving communication, advocacy, and awareness of our services and impact

Purpose

Delegation meetings with Cabinet Ministers are a key feature of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conference.  These meetings are a unique opportunity for our board to engage with Ministers, Parliamentary Assistants and senior Ontario Government officials on local matters that impact the Manitoulin-Sudbury District Services Board.  

The Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB will submit various delegations to request meetings with the provincial government.  The deadline for submitting our delegation requests is May 21, 2026.

Summary of Delegations

1.    Ministry of Education and Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security

Issue:  Strengthening Northern Paramedic Capacity
Issue Summary:
Ontario’s current Learn and Stay Grant Program is not fully aligned with the workforce realities facing Northern paramedic services. Short return-of-service requirements, limited support for Advanced Care Paramedic training, and weak incentives to remain in northern communities reduce the program’s effectiveness as a long-term recruitment and retention tool. 

Background:
Northern Ontario services continue to face persistent paramedic staffing pressures, particularly in building a stable pipeline for both Primary Care Paramedics and Advanced Care Paramedics. Current program rules allow for relatively short service commitments, permit training pathways that may not keep students connected to northern communities, and do not fully support Advanced Care Paramedic development. Strengthening the program would better reflect northern service realities and help build a more sustainable paramedic workforce across rural and remote Ontario.

2.    Ministry of Education

Issue #1:  Child Care Workforce Screening Delays (VSC Requirements)
Issue Summary:
Current Vulnerable Sector Check (VSC) requirements are creating hiring delays that prevent qualified Early Childhood Educators from entering the workforce. 
Background:
Requiring new VSCs for recent hires, employer changes, or minor employment gaps, combined with processing delays, creates unnecessary staffing shortages and limits child care capacity.  Current VSC rules require that checks must be conducted within 6 months at time of hire, new checks are often required when an individual changes employer and breaks in employment may trigger additional screening requirements.

Issue #2:  CWELCC Utilization Pressures and Age Group Transition Barriers
Issue Summary:
The Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) utilization framework is creating bottlenecks in age group transitions. When space is unavailable in the next age grouping, children remain in their current placement longer than intended, reducing turnover, limiting new admissions, and creating system-wide access pressures.
Background:
The current CWELCC utilization model does not reflect how children move through licensed childcare programs and is creating system-wide access pressures.  Childcare operates on age-based room groupings with fixed capacities and staffing ratios. As children grow, they must transition to the next age group. However, when space is not available in the receiving room, transitions cannot occur.

3.   Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development

Issue #1:  Employment System Integration
Issue Summary: 
Improved communication and integration between the Ministry of  Children, Community and Social Services and Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development is necessary as it relates to verification documentation. Both ministries require employment verification however, there is no automated mechanism in place to share this data.  This creates an administrative burden for staff and affects employment provider performance targets.
Background:  
Employment verification is challenging for providers to obtain after an individual is employed as there is no incentive to provide the information.  Employment verification is required from both ministries and as we are working within an Integrated Employment System, it is crucial that the technology become integrated which would reduce the burden on staff, clients and allow employment providers to meet their checkpoints more efficiently.

Issue #2: Elimination of Record Suspension Requests from Employment Related Financial Supports
Issue Summary: 
Record Suspensions have recently been designated as ineligible under Employment Related Financial Supports thereby eliminating a support that helps individuals overcome employment barriers.
Background:  
The ministry recently advised that Record Suspensions have been added to the list of ineligible services for funding through Employment Related Financial Supports.  For many job seekers, a Record Suspension has been an important tool to in overcoming barriers and allowing individuals to compete more fairly in the labour market.  Support for record suspensions is directly linked to labour force participation, and successful reintegration into the workforce.  As employment service providers, our role is to help individuals overcome barriers to employment.  The removal of this support eliminates a practical means to addressing an employment obstacle.

4.   Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing

Issue #1: Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP) Funding
Issue Summary:
Planning over a 3-year period along with the creation and maintenance of our by-name list has helped us establish the right mix of HPP supports.  More families are experiencing food insecurity, utility and rental arrears.  A multi-year HPP allocation with funding for both operating and supportive housing capital would support improved planning.
Background:
There may not be visible encampments in our small communities, homelessness is very much present. Many people are living in precarious, unsafe and unsuitable situations often located off grid far from any services or support.  We are seeing increased numbers of families experiencing food insecurity, utility and rental arrears and the need for emergency supports. 

Issue #2: COCHI-OPHI Funding
Issue Summary:
The allocated COCHI-OPHI funding impacts our ability to plan, increased sustainable funding is needed.  Funding through the COCHI-OPHI programs is not enough to address the needs of aging buildings, the non-profits and urban native providers we are in partnership with as well as support rejuvenation, affordability and new construction. 
Background:
Our total 2026/27 planned allocation for COCHI-OPHI is $695,600, the 2026 DSB Community Housing budget is $3,889,187.  Community Housing is a direct hit on the municipal tax levy to maintain our existing stock.  We are trying to address all the needs we have and juggling those has become next to impossible without an increase in the tax levy. 

5.  Ministry of Health

Issue #1: Supportive Housing Funding
Issue Summary: 
It has been determined that supportive housing is essential to effectively address and ultimately end homelessness.   
Background: 
Funding for supportive housing capital funds from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing does not include commitment to support operations, particularly supports for Mental Health and Substance use needs.  Community partners struggle to meet demand for services.

Issue #2: Sustainable Nonurgent Patient Transport
Issue Summary:  
Current provincial funding does not fully support the nonurgent transportation model serving medically stable patients in the southern portion of Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB. As a result, small hospital partners and the DSB are absorbing costs for a service that helps protect 911 emergency response capacity, reduces pressure on hospital staff, and supports access to care in rural and northern communities.
Background:
For more than a decade, the DSB and local health partners have operated a collaborative nonurgent patient transportation service to reduce the use of paramedic resources for medically stable patient transfers. The model helps prevent avoidable impacts on emergency response, supports hospitals by reducing reliance on internal escorts, and responds to the realities of regionalized care in rural and remote Ontario. Despite its value, the program receives only partial provincial funding, creating ongoing financial pressure for local partners and placing the long-term sustainability of the service at risk.

6.  Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services 

Issue #1: Support to Sustain Human Service Delivery
Issue Summary:  
The DSB is seeking the Ministry’s support for a dedicated rural and remote DSSAB funding stream. Discussion should focus on rising service complexity, higher northern delivery costs, limited municipal levy capacity, and the DSB’s expanded role in housing, homelessness, Ontario Works, early years, and broader human services integration. This is directly relevant to MCCSS because the ministry relies on DSSABs to deliver and coordinate core provincial human services priorities, yet current funding frameworks do not fully reflect the operating realities of northern, low-tax-base service managers.
Background: 
The issue is that the DSSAB governance and funding model has not kept pace with the expanded responsibilities now being carried by northern service managers such as the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB. Originally established to coordinate human services in northern Ontario, DSBs now play a much broader role in local system planning, homelessness prevention, housing stabilization, early years supports, crisis response, and cross-sector service integration. In Manitoulin-Sudbury, these pressures are intensified by a wide geographic service area, dispersed rural and remote communities, 18 municipalities, 15 First Nation communities, unorganized territory, aging infrastructure, workforce and service gaps, and limited municipal fiscal capacity. At the same time, paramedic services are responding to increasingly complex calls linked to mental health, addictions, and homelessness, while community housing is serving tenants with greater support needs and the DSB is contributing to health-system coordination without dedicated operational funding. Current provincial funding approaches do not adequately account for northern delivery costs or the administrative and corporate capacity required to fulfill these broader expectations. As a result, municipalities are absorbing increasing pressures through the levy despite constrained tax bases. The request is for MCCSS to work with northern DSBs to design a transparent, needs-based, ongoing provincial fund that recognizes the true cost of delivering integrated human services in rural and remote Ontario.

Conclusion

Staff are recommending that the board approve the summary of delegations issue report and instruct staff to submit the request for delegations to AMO by the deadline of May 21, 2026.