Premier’s Thank You Sparks Hope for Child Safety

Guess Who was Thanked by Premier Tim Houston!?

Disclaimer: The event described below occurred before an election was called and is not an endorsement for a political party. We encourage you to vote for the party or candidate of your preference.

At Priority Kids we are constantly engaged in finding the ‘right’ way to talk about what we do to protect children.

Elevator pitches. Hooks. Stories.

There is a lot to consider when it comes to capturing people’s attention. The fact that we are solving a problem that most people don’t think they have, and involves talking about something most people don’t want to talk about… is part of the reason we are still searching for the words or phrases that will inspire people to pay attention to child sexual abuse prevention.

A few weeks ago, the Annapolis Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon with special guest, Premier Tim Houston. I received an email at Priority Kids inviting us to purchase tickets with an opportunity to submit a question that *could* be read during a Q&A with the Premier.

I took the bait.

I spent a day or two drafting 2 questions (see questions below) that I knew from the beginning would not likely be selected. Those of us who care about children know that our society prioritizes the economy and does not yet see the link between our expensive health care challenges and child sexual abuse (even though the association is strong). It was difficult to think of a question that didn’t require a large preamble… but since we don’t have a strong knowledge about child sexual abuse, a preamble was unavoidable. The probability of a lengthy child protective question being selected at a business event was unlikely.

However, I hung my hope on the possibility that the questions might be screened by someone from Premier Tim Houston’s team. I drafted my questions with the hope that someone close to the premier would read them and, in that way, my questions might reach someone who could potentially reach Premier Houston.

I submitted our questions and a few days later I was off to enjoy the Annapolis Valley Chamber of Commerce’s lunch at the Old Orchard Inn.

As I walked into the event I could see my MLA, and just one person-cluster away, was the Premier himself.

I immediately wanted to leave.

The overwhelming feeling of wanting to convey how important it is that we prioritize protecting children from sexual abuse was too much.

I know that people do not like it when someone seems desperate, and I didn’t want to bring that energy into the room.

Instead of leaving, I turned to the fellow next to me - who happened to be my husband. He was at the event on behalf of Chicken Farmers of Nova Scotia. As we chatted, another farmer approached us.

The three of us made some small talk. My energy was settling.

When suddenly, Premier Tim Houston walked up to us and introduced himself!

WHAT?!

Are you kidding me? I did not expect that I would end up in a face to face encounter at this event.

Thank goodness I was hanging out with farmers.

I shook the Premier’s hand and told him, “I’m Angela Johnston with Priority Kids”.

I can’t relay the conversation play by play, because it was one of those moments that I can only recall in bits and pieces. My husband is accustomed to meeting politicians because Chicken Farmers have some influence in this province, so for him it was not a life-altering moment.

For me, an advocate for children who have limited political influence, being listened to by our Premier was like crossing a marathon finish line. Except I wasn’t prepared - I didn’t see it coming.

A few really wonderful things happened that are worth celebrating.

First of all, I told him the name of our training and advocacy organization. He may have only heard the name Priority Kids one time… but he heard it. And one time is a start.

Premier Tim Houston asked me which children do I serve? And I answered him honestly when I said, “all of them”.

I had the opportunity to say to him that we help organizations across the province to implement best practices to protect children from sexual abuse. And his reply was,

“You really do serve all the children” and then he said,

“That’s really important work. Thank you”

Bam! The Premier thanked me for my work.

Wow.

I heard his ‘Thank you’ and I looked him in the eye and sincerely meant it when I said, ‘You’re Welcome’.

I said ‘you’re welcome’ with the conviction of knowing.

You’re welcome for creating the only organization in this province that is singularly devoted to protecting children from sexual abuse.

You’re welcome for constantly stepping into discomfort and challenging other adults to have difficult conversations about child safety, despite the cost I pay for taking on this role.

You’re welcome for doing the prevention work that our province does not invest in, nor recognize the importance of. Yet.

You’re welcome for prioritizing child safety and helping others to do the same.

Maybe I was imagining, but I felt my meaning of, ‘You’re Welcome’ caught his attention.

That felt like a win.

And then, when Premier Tim Houston asked me a question about Priority Kids’ source of funding, I was able to inform him that we don’t receive public funding.

I explained that we are paid when organizations hire us to train their staff. AND, I told him that the challenge we experience is that organizations struggle to acquire funding to hire us because most funding guidelines exclude prevention.

“What’s that?” I had caught Premier Tim Houston’s attention.

“That’s right.” I said. “Funding guidelines don’t include prevention. Organizations aren’t able to get funding to better protect kids from sexual abuse”.

And that’s when Premier Tim Houston said the best thing I’d heard all day.

“That’s a real gap.”

My hands went up in the air in celebration of this victorious moment, which I guess was a bit unprofessional, but this was exciting!

Having already introduced myself, named Priority Kids, described our mission to protect children from sexual abuse, AND helped Premier Tim Houston identify a gap in funding priorities… I was ready to call it quits.

But before Premier Houston walked away, my dear husband, who has always been in the background supporting our advocacy work, stepped into the foreground. He said to Premier Tim Houston,

‘So the ask would be to make sure that funding guidelines include prevention’.

And just like that, the words, the message, the ask, all came together.

It was like magic.

After the Premier walked away, I was pretty much ready to go home. I knew that nothing else at the luncheon would top that short but powerful interaction.

After 14 years of advocating for children, I know that one moment isn’t going to make a difference. Until it does.

Today, we can celebrate that some ‘right’ words were said to the ‘right’ person and for at least a moment, we had his attention.

The day after this luncheon, the current election was announced. With politicians and candidates vying for our votes, now is a good time to ask our potential leaders,

1. What will you do to help protect children from sexual abuse?

and

2.  Did you know that most funding criteria and provincial mandates excludes prevention? How can we expect to improve our health and wellness if organizations can’t get the funding they need to implement prevention practices?

If you have a chance to speak with a politician or campaigner about protecting children from sexual abuse, reach out and let us know how it went!

very conversation puts us one step closer to being a prevention-oriented community. And for that, we thank you!

Submitted Questions For Premier Tim Houston that were Not Selected:

We have seen that the provincial government has made significant progress in responding to our health care crisis.

The wait list for a family doctor has been shortened, there are more ways to access primary health care, and there are creative initiatives to encourage doctors to stay in Nova Scotia.

However, these solutions and results do not address a primary, underlying, issue which is that we have an unhealthy population with preventable complex and chronic health care needs.

At Priority Kids, we advocate for protecting children from sexual abuse by implementing Best Practices that protect children. This is primary prevention.

We know from the globally revered Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study, that exposure to child sexual abuse puts children at GREATER risk of expensive complex social and health problems in adulthood including obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Question: Will the Honourable Tim Houston commit to becoming personally familiar with the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study so that this evidence may influence provincial strategies and funding priorities?

Despite the overwhelming evidence that childhood adversity is at the root of our social and health care challenges, Nova Scotia continues to have the highest rates of child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation in the country.

More than 34% of children in Nova Scotia are sexually abused by age 18.

Priority Kids is the only organization in Nova Scotia that is dedicated to protecting children from sexual abuse.

Question: Will the Honourable Tim Houston meet personally with our Lead Advocate and staff to discuss the barriers we encounter that continue to put Nova Scotian children at risk of sexual abuse?