By Irwin Elman, Order of Canada (2023)
I was Ontario’s Child Advocate from 2008 to 2019. Prior to this I worked with young people in and from care of our child protection system for over 25 years. I carry so many stories from children and youth I have met. These stories are like apples on a tree of knowledge. I can pick from that tree. The stories not only inform me they sustain me.
As the Child Advocate I had the opportunity to translate into English the memoir of a 92 year old man named Shlomo Nadel who wrote an account of his childhood in Warsaw, Poland living in an orphanage founded and run by a Dr Janus Korczak. I wanted to translate his memoir because I wanted to show that it was possible to operate residential care with integrity.
Now forgive me for being that old guy who has to layer his stories with detail. I fear that this affliction is actually a form of mansplaining but I want make sure the reader knows who Janusz Korczak was. I knew only tangentially until I met Shlomo. Dr Korczak was a Polish pediatrician. In the early 1920’s to 1940’s he ran a number of orphanages across his country. He was renowned for his child centred philosophy and his commitment to children who he saw as “people today not people tomorrow”. Korczak is known as the “Father of children’s rights”. The children of his orphanages produced a national newsletter popular in many parts of. Europe and the good Doctor had his own weekly national radio show. If you have heard of Janusz Korscak its likely you are familiar with the story of his orphanages in Warsaw being gated within the Ghetto under Nazi occupation. When the Nazis liquidated the Ghetto, Dr Korszak, due to his legacy was offered freedom and life. He refused the offer, instead marching with “his children” through the streets of the Ghetto to the train station where they all were loaded in cattle cars to Treblinka. He died in the gas chambers of the camp standing beside the children he served.
Now Shlomo certainly remembered everything about his time in Korczak’s orphanage. He remembered the Bill of Rights written by Korczak with children. He remembered how children who lived in the orphanage were afforded those rights. He remembered the children led “court” where staff and residents of the orphanage could bring complaints. Shlomo remembered Korczak finding a way to support Shlomo’s early interest in photography. Shlomo credits his career as a photographer to Korczak and he unequivocally believes he is indebted to Korczak for his life.
Shlomo said that there was one memory that stood out. He told about the large room in the orphanage where children would sleep. The reader might imagine a room in an orphanage, row upon row of cots, set beside each other. Shlomo remembered that on the occasional night, once all the children had gone to bed and were fast asleep, Korczak would go out into the Ghetto on a mission. Korzcak would visit the bakeries that existed. “Sweets”, said Shlomo, “in the Ghetto as you can imagine were hard to come by and a great treasure”. Somehow Korczak would find some. Shlomo recounted , “In the middle of the night Dr Korczak would come back to the orphanage and while we were sound asleep Korczak would place a small piece of cake on the corner of our cots. We would savour that piece of cake when we awoke in the morning”.
With tears welling in his eyes, his voice cracking, this now 92 year old Shlomo said “You know that cake. It tasted like love”
I reflect upon Shlomo every time I think about the need for transformational change in the manner in which, we , through our governments construct and deliver service of any kind to children and their families. Shlomo’s simple but complex message about the importance of “love’, “belonging”, “respect”, choose a word that works for you, is echoed by young person upon young person marginalized from their rights any time they are asked. Our child protection system, justice system, disability support system, health system work in a manner that tears at the provision of “love”
I remember trying to explain this to a Deputy Minister once. I’m sure he rolled his eyes and in exasperation he said “What in heavens do you want me to do with that! We cant legislate love!” After the meeting I returned to my office. I sat with a group of youth and told them what the Deputy had said. I can still hear the young woman who told me “The Deputy is right of course. But Irwin why don’t you tell him – Its true you cant legislate love but you can legislate the conditions in which love can flourish”.
Inspired by Shlomo and the thousands of young people I have met over the decades, these days I’m thinking about the Deputy Minister’s challenge and the young person’s response. If we wanted to ensure that every child had what they needed when they needed it in order to thrive - If we wanted every family regardless of how that family is constructed ( biological family, kin family, adopted family, foster family, chosen family) to have what it needed to do right by their children-If we wanted every child to be safe – if we wanted every child to feel love and belonging – then what would a system look like that delivered these possibilities. If we allowed ourselves to dream and imagined starting with nothing in place what would this system look like. I invite you to dream with me. In the coming months with courageous partners like Stepstones for Youth we will create a process where we can create together. Yes we require transformational change. Yes we need to understand what we wish transformational change will lead us towards.
This is a call to action.
I will paraphrase Indigenous writer Thomas King who wrote in a book of short stories. You can do what you wish with these stories. You can make a petition. You can tell a friend. You can make a film or make a posting. You can ignore the stories. But you can never live your life again as if you have never heard the stories. You have heard them now.
And finally let me quote my late Mother who said to me “it is not your responsibility to change the world. However, remember you are not exempt from trying”
About Irwin
On October 2007, the Ontario Child Advocate (the Advocate’s Office) was established with the passage of Bill 165 by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. On July 14th, 2008, an all-party panel appointed Irwin Elman as the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth to provide leadership to the Advocate’s Office – the first independent office of its kind in Ontario – to amplify the voices of children and youth in its mandate.
Irwin served as Ontario’s Child Advocate until 2019 drawing on the strength of young people, working to fill the gap between what government, service providers and policy-makers intend, and the reality experienced by some of the most vulnerable children and youth in Ontario. Irwin led the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates for 10 years as the President of the Council.
Irwin brings an extensive background as an educator, counsellor, youth worker, program manager, policy developer and child and youth advocate to the position –borrowing from the courage and hope of the young people he served to create innovative approaches for others in Ontario, Ukraine, Jamaica, Hungary and Japan. Prior to becoming the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, Irwin was the Manager of the Pape Adolescent Resource Centre in Toronto (PARC), an award-winning organization that supports young people as they leave child welfare care, for more than 20 years. He later served as the Director of Client Service at Central Toronto Youth Services, a children’s mental health centre.
In 2023 Irwin was appointed as an Officer of the Order Of Canada the highest civilian recognition by Canada.
Irwin is currently:
- a “Fellow” with the Laidlaw Foundation of Ontario,
- the President of Defence For Children International- Canada,
- President, Defence for Children International – Canada
- President, Save Ukraine Canada
- President, Board of Directors, Ontario Children’s Advancement Coalition
- Secretary, Board of Directors, Project Outsiders Youth In Care
- Champion , Children’s First Canada
- the “Global Strategic Advisor” to Until The Last Child,
- Advisor to the Coroner of Ontario
- Advisor, Youth In Care Canada
- Advisor, Abrar Mental Health Services
- Advisor, Centre for Refugee Children Toronto
Irwin is a proud but admittedly often tired Husband and Father to two early teen boys who command his love and doting attention
Noteworthy Reports:
The ideas and lived experiences of children and youth under the Advocate’s mandate are captured in a number of reports written by young people, most notably My REAL Life Book (based on the landmark Youth Leaving Care Hearings); Feathers of Hope: A First Nations Youth Action Plan (based on the voices of 100 First Nations youth); The Ultimate Health Rights Survival Guide (a step-by-step guide on the health rights of youth); It Depends Who’s Working: A Systemic Review of Secure Isolation in Ontario Youth Facilities; and the Blueprint for Fundamental Change to Ontario’s Child Welfare System (prepared by the Youth Leaving Care Working Group, a partnership between the Advocate’s Office and the ministry).
Irwin obtained his Master of Education and Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Honours) in political science from Carleton University. He received an Honorary Degree from Guelph-Humber University.
Recent Awards:
· the “Janus Korczak Award” from the Janus Korczak Association of Canada;
· “Advocate of the Year” from the North American Adoption Council;
· “Honorary Member” of the Canadian Pediatric Society;
· “Stand Up For Kids Award” by the Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada
· “Korczak Medal”, Childrens Ombudsman, Warsaw, Poland
The Way
--Waywaymegwun
There are those who speak through me. The cardinal points us to the directions where all spirits live. The ones that speak in silence look within to look without. You can hear them talk. It is through me, through you that we are shown the way.
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