I'm a big believer in prevention education. I'm a nationally licensed prevention educator. I think that should be in every classroom across Canada, and it should be part of the curriculum, but it shouldn't necessarily be up to the teachers to teach.
When I talk about a robust plan, rolling out prevention education is at the top of that plan for me. There are so many organizations across the country, such as MediaSmarts and Defend Dignity. We want to be in those classrooms, and the biggest obstacle that we face is school boards telling us that they have to go above this person and up the ladder for someone to approve it. For us to get into a classroom and teach prevention education is extremely hard.
I think one of the key steps you can take is standardizing prevention education, allowing certain agencies or organizations into those classrooms, saying that we are allowed to be there as much as possible and allowed to work with the schools without facing any red tape or bureaucracy around it.
I understand that legislation and policy take time, but I just think that our kids are the most important thing in the world, and we should be moving legislation as quickly as possible when it comes to them.