Federal petition to protect kids in ERs closes August 31

Finlay van der Werken was 16 years old and from Burlington when he went to the emergency room with serious symptoms. He waited more than eight hours. There were no pediatric-trained staff on duty, no sepsis protocols in place, no system built to treat a child in crisis. Finlay didn't make it home — and his death was preventable. His story exposed something that advocates say is a systemic failure across the country: Canada's emergency departments were not designed with children in mind. Kids deteriorate faster than adults, can't advocate for themselves, and rely entirely on a patchwork system with no national standards. Right now, 85 per cent of children who visit ERs are treated in general hospitals with widely varying levels of pediatric readiness. Canada has no national sepsis standards — despite sepsis claiming roughly 18,000 lives annually. In Ontario, more than 30,000 people signed a provincial petition calling for what became known as Finlay's Law — reforms that would push ERs to become genuinely pediatric-ready. But advocates say the provincial response has amounted to sympathy without action, and they're now taking the fight to the federal level. The federal petition calls on Ottawa to strengthen oversight of the Canada Health Act, tie health-transfer funding to enforceable pediatric emergency and sepsis standards, and require transparent reporting from provinces. Although healthcare falls under provincial jurisdiction, the federal government shapes it through funding — and advocates argue that provinces should not receive full transfers while ER access continues to decline. The federal petition — Finlay's Voice — closes on Monday, August 31. You can sign at the link shared by the campaign (https://lnkd.in/gqYzMFb5). Every signature adds weight to a call for standards that could prevent another family from going through what Finlay's family has.