More than one in four Ontario students report having been a victim of cyberbullying in the past year. This statistic places schools at the center of a debate that extends beyond the classroom and enters the campaign for the October 26 school board elections.

Jonathan Santos is running for trustee in Ward 9 of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB). School board trustees represent families on the board and participate in decisions regarding budgets, priorities, and policies that affect thousands of students.

In an interview with Milénio Stadium, the candidate advocates for a two-pronged response. On one hand, he wants to understand what drives bullies to act. On the other, he wants to strengthen support for victims through more workshops for parents, students, and teachers, additional child and youth workers, and clear consequences, including suspensions. Regarding cellphones in classrooms, he describes himself as “old school”: he calls for a return to pen, paper, and handwriting, viewing technology as a supplement rather than a “crutch.”

He also draws attention to immigrant families who do not speak fluent English and consequently face greater difficulties in keeping up with their children—both in their academic progress and in their ventures through an online world that is as fascinating as it is dark and dangerous.

Milénio Stadium: More than one in four Ontario students report having been a victim of cyberbullying in the past year. What concrete measures do you advocate for to prevent and respond to these cases in schools?

Jonathan Santos: It’s a very terrible problem that we’re dealing with right now. As community advocates—because that’s what school board trustees are—what we need to be doing is organizing more workshops for parents, students, and teachers so we can see how we can work together to solve this problem from two standpoints.

First, regarding those who commit these acts: let’s try to understand why they are doing this. Why do they feel the need to harm others? Sometimes words are worse than physical violence; mental abuse can be more devastating than an actual physical assault. So we need to work on two fronts: understanding why people do this and how we can stop and prevent them from doing it; and on the other hand, supporting those affected. What kind of programs do we need?

Everybody knows there are so many cuts to education right now. There are even cuts planned for my position as a prospective trustee. But while my hands are tied in certain respects, what I would like to see happen first and foremost is ensuring this doesn’t happen at all and that proper repercussions are in place.

The other problem lies with the Ministry of Education. They don’t like to penalize children or talk about expulsions or suspensions. But I think that needs to happen, because if you don’t do that, how are students going to learn that this is unacceptable behavior? We definitely need to educate people on this and hold more community workshops, especially from an educational standpoint, to address the root of the problem. We need proper repercussions in place and to be truly there to support those who are suffering—the victims.

MS: Is the cellphone ban in classrooms working? Should it be expanded, maintained, or revised?

JS: I’ve been hearing mixed responses from the parents I speak to at different schools. Some say it’s working: some teachers set aside a phone-free time, students put them in a box, and they can’t use them. Other teachers simply don’t enforce it, and they see kids getting distracted.

My opinion is that we can’t avoid technology; it’s everywhere. However, it shouldn’t be used as the primary method of instruction—especially phones. There should be clear criteria: if we’re working on a topic for the next hour, no phones. If there’s an emergency, there are always other ways to get in touch, whether with a parent or through the school, which has all records up to date.

Additionally, we have to consider that while one student is trying to learn, another might be on their phone—and besides not paying attention, they are distracting their classmates. That’s not what we want. So I think during certain hours and in certain classes, phone use should be banned. If they have a 5- or 10-minute break, then sure, allow it.

Even though I’m young, I’m very “old school” in this regard. I see the benefits of technology, but I don’t think it should be the primary resource; it should be supplemental. I advocate for a return to basic reading, handwriting, and penmanship. You see some of these younger children who don’t know how to write properly. We need to go back to the basics and the fundamentals. Absolutely.

MS: What role should digital literacy and online safety play in the curriculum, and starting at what age?

JS: As I mentioned, regarding technology, online environments, and access, I believe there need to be limits for the child’s own safety. Today, everything is digital and you can find out everything about someone with just the click of a mouse. Because of this, we need much stronger reinforcement and discipline.

Technology shouldn’t be used as a “crutch,” which is how it’s currently being used in the education system. It shouldn’t be the only resource we use; it should be viewed as a supplement. We have to get back to the fundamentals of pen and paper.

On the other hand, I think parents should be a little more involved. Speaking with some parents, I know many don’t fully understand the system because they are recent immigrants and haven’t mastered the English language. When their child comes home and says, “This is what we’re doing, this is what the teacher said,” they accept it and don’t question it. I think we also need to do more to advocate for and empower these parents whose first language isn’t English so they can understand the process. That’s why I believe these workshops are so beneficial for families.

MS: Are school guidance counselors and mental health services sufficient to support students affected by cyberbullying? If elected, what will you do about this issue?

JS: I don’t think they’re doing enough, and that comes back to the budget cuts from the Ministry of Education. There isn’t enough support for students or parents. Workshops are one tool, but we need more child and youth workers, as well as more guidance counselors.

If we don’t solve this problem in childhood, it can drag on into adulthood. When you reach adulthood without overcoming this bullying, the consequences in your personal and professional life can be severe. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to have more programs and more support for students.

If elected, that will be one of my priorities. Although my power as a trustee is limited, our role is to relentlessly advocate for these causes. Mental health is, unfortunately, a very prevalent issue today. If young people don’t get the support they need at an early age, it will haunt them for the rest of their lives. In today’s society, where social media and cyberbullying are just a click away, we 100% must support our youth. Absolutely.

Madalena Balça/MS

Her son is 16 years old, plays soccer and basketball with his friends, and spends many hours on his phone and playing video games. He is a teenager like so many others. His mother confesses that she lives with constant anxiety, fueled above all by her son’s silence. “My fear is that, because he is very reserved, he might be suffering from some form of humiliation and not telling me. That he might be a victim of bullying or under some pressure, because I think there is a lot of competitiveness among teenagers.”

The fear does not come out of nowhere. The teenager was bullied in the past, and that experience left marks on how his mother views every sign of sadness. “I feel that, at times, he is very downcast. And I think: could something be happening on his phone? Is someone hurting him? And is he not telling me?”

For years, she had access to her son’s phone. Today, she no longer does. “He tells me that I have no business looking at his phone, that he is a grown boy now.” The mother tries to engage in dialogue, but the answers are scarce. “I push him, but he gives me the bare minimum. He gives me almost no information about what is going on with him. And I immediately start imagining the worst.”

She assures that she talks to her son about the dangers of the internet. His response, however, is always the same: “Don’t worry, I have everything under control. You don’t have to be afraid of anything because I’m big now.” It is precisely this confidence that worries her. “He always thinks he is not a target, that it only happens to others, that nothing will happen to him. That scares me.”

Even so, she refuses the temptation to protect him by locking him up at home. She even admits to feeling relieved when he goes out to play sports with his friends and leaves screens behind. “The world out there scares me, but I am aware that I cannot keep him trapped inside the house—though the truth is that I only rest easy when he walks through the door.”

The app that tallys intimacy

Recently, the moment that struck her most did not come from her son, but from a 15-year-old friend of his who talks to her frequently. It was this teenager who told her about an application where teenagers record episodes of their intimate lives. “For example: if my son kisses a girl, he goes to the app and says he kissed a girl that day. And it stays registered there that Boy X has already kissed six girls.”

The record, the teenager explained, does not stop at kisses: it also includes counting sexual relationships, with details that left this mother speechless—after all, this is an app whose content is entered by youth aged 13, 14, 15, 16… “I was looking at her and didn’t even know what to say. I just said: ‘I’m shocked.'” When she asked what the goal was, she simply heard that it served “so we know how many people we’ve kissed.” And, as a response to her reservations, the “accusation” arrived quickly: she was an “old school” mother, someone “from the 90s” who “doesn’t understand anything.”

That day, she remembers calling her own mother to vent. “In my time, I didn’t even want anyone to know if I had kissed someone. To me, this is a completely different world.” More than the exposure itself, the naïveté disturbs her. “They don’t even realize that people could join that app pretending to be young when they aren’t. They have no fears. They think they live in La La Land.”

When her sister, a mother of two young children, complains about being tired, her response comes with a bitter smile: “You are in the best phase; you have no idea what awaits you.” For this mother, the hardest part of adolescence is not the rebellion, nor the typical isolation of that age. “It is more the fear of the world, of the way things are.”

In the face of all this, she holds on to one certainty: keeping the door open is the solution. “For me, the important thing is to always keep some channel of dialogue open. He says I’m annoying, but I don’t care. He can say whatever he wants—one day he will thank me.”

Note: For reasons that seem obvious to us (safeguarding the privacy of the family and particularly the young people involved), we have kept all participants completely anonymous.

Madalena Balça/MS

Grooming, financial sextortion, and organized predatory networks represent the primary digital threats facing youth today. The Toronto Police Service explains how offenders operate, what families should do within the first few hours, and where to seek help.

A single smartphone, a messaging app, or an online game is all it takes for danger to enter the home unannounced. This is the reality. In fact, in responses provided to our newspaper, the Toronto Police Service (TPS) paints a troubling picture of the crimes targeting children and adolescents in the digital realm.

Cindy Chung, media relations officer for the TPS, leaves no room for doubt regarding the primary threat. “The most prevalent digital threats facing children and teenagers currently involve Internet Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE), which encompasses child luring, exploitation material, and financial sexual extortion,” she explains.

Added to these crimes is a more recent phenomenon that has prompted warnings from law enforcement. “Police have warned of emerging predatory networks, such as ‘The Com,’ that actively target youth online to coerce them into severe real-world harms,” the spokesperson notes.

The method used by offenders follows a repeated pattern. According to police, “offenders frequently operate across popular messaging apps and gaming networks.” These are precisely the digital spaces where young people spend much of their free time.

The first step is gaining the victim’s trust. “Predators often use fake profiles to pose as teenagers to build rapid trust,” describes Cindy Chung. From there, situation can escalate very quickly: the offender “coerces the minor into sending explicit images or videos and immediately pivots to blackmail.” This is the core mechanism of “sextortion.” The obtained images are weaponized to extort money or additional explicit content from the victim under the threat of exposure to family, friends, or schoolmates.

One of the most striking findings is the profile of the preferred targets for this type of crime. “Financial sextortion groups heavily target young males,” states the police representative. Explaining why, she notes that these groups “exploit the fear and reluctance these boys have to speak out about what is happening to them.” Shame and silence thus become the perpetrators’ greatest allies. A teenager who feels humiliated and fears parental reaction tends to hide the problem, giving blackmailers more time and leverage over the victim.

Nevertheless, police emphasize that the risk is not confined to boys. “It is important to note that both boys and girls can be victims,” Chung cautions.

What, then, should a parent do if they discover their child is being blackmailed or harassed online? The police response is clear and begins with severing communication: the first step is to “stop all communication with the offender immediately.”

Next, preserving evidence that could help identify the offender is essential. Police advise parents to “safely save all evidence by copying the text URL, account handles, and platform names.”

Finally, Cindy Chung stresses that emotional support from parents is just as crucial as practical measures. Parents should “reassure your child that they are the victim,” and “seek immediate support from the police or a trusted resource.” Youth often feel guilty and ashamed, and hearing from their parents that they did nothing wrong can make all the difference.

Chung also highlights critical mistakes to avoid at all costs. The first is giving in to threats, with clear guidance provided: “Do not reply to the threats and do not pay the extortionists,” the police insist. The reason is that “paying rarely stops the blackmail and often leads to higher demands.”

The second error, often made in the heat of the moment, is attempting to literally delete the problem. Cindy Chung issues a clear warning: “Police ask families to avoid deleting the account or the chat history, as doing so destroys vital digital evidence needed for a police investigation.”

How should parents proceed when they suspect something is wrong? Whether suspecting or confirming an issue with a child or adolescent, several official channels are available for reporting. In severe cases, the direction is unequivocal: “Always dial 9-1-1 immediately if a child is in imminent danger.”

In non-emergency situations, families can “call the Toronto Police non-emergency line at 416-808-2222, or submit a report through the TPS Online Reporting Tool” for eligible offenses.

For cases involving sexual exploitation, a specialized route is available. Police recommend “reporting child sexual exploitation directly to Canada’s national tip line at Cybertip.ca.”

What happens next? When a cyberbullying or exploitation case reaches authorities, police deploy specialized internal resources. “The TPS leverages specialized units like the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) alongside School Liaison Officers who can intervene or offer guidance in extreme cases,” explains Cindy Chung.

However, the response extends beyond criminal investigation. Police also direct families to a network of partner resources outlined on their bullying prevention page. Among these are the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and Kids Help Phone, which offers “professional, confidential support” via 1-800-668-6868.

For parents, the TPS provides a social media safety tips portal offering “comprehensive guidance” to “help families establish healthy digital boundaries.”

Police also focus on proactive prevention, bringing the message directly to those who need it most. “The Toronto Police Service delivers proactive education directly to youth and parents through interactive community safety workshops and school presentations hosted by community constables,” notes the spokesperson.

These sessions address practical, everyday topics relevant to youth. According to police, “these initiatives focus on the risks of sharing personal details or photos, auditing privacy settings, and understanding the hidden dangers built into modern multiplayer gaming environments.”

Online gaming, often viewed by parents as a harmless pastime, emerges as one of the venues where predators seek victims. For families seeking continued guidance, police recommend reviewing the TPS Social Media Safety Guide.

From Cindy Chung’s responses, a central theme emerges: offenders feed on fear and isolation. The longer a young person keeps the problem to themselves, the greater the blackmailer’s power becomes.

Therefore, the message to families is both practical and reassuring: keep dialogue open, act quickly, preserve evidence, and above all, reassure children that if something happens, they are never to blame. In a world where danger is just a click away, trust between parents and children remains the strongest protection.

Madalena Balça/MS

 

More than 16,900. That was the number of cases involving the sexual exploitation of children and youth online recorded by Canadian police services in 2024, according to Statistics Canada. The rate is more than four times higher than in 2014. In that same year, child luring offenses reached the highest number on record, with 2,903 reported incidents.

Data from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) also highlight the rapid escalation of another phenomenon: sextortion. In 2020, the organization recorded 458 cases. In 2025, that figure rose to 2,827, more than a sixfold increase. In total, C3P received more than 14,000 cases over just six years. Many others are never reported.

Cybertip.ca was created precisely in response to this reality. Launched in 2002 as a pilot project in Manitoba, it serves today as Canada’s national tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of minors. It receives tips from across the country, analyzes them, and forwards relevant leads to law enforcement agencies and child welfare services.

To understand what has shifted in recent years, who predators are targeting, and how schools and families can take action, our newspaper spoke with Lindsay Lobb, C3P’s director of support services, and David Rabsch, director of Cybertip.ca. Their responses reveal that no app featuring private messaging is neutral ground. They also make clear that the earliest warning signs that something is wrong often surface in subtle daily changes: a frequent headache, restless nights, or a sudden loss of interest in a favorite hobby. Staying attentive to these small, yet significant, signs is vital so parents can step in time to protect their children from cowardly and deeply terrifying attacks.

Milénio Stadium: For those who may not know it, what is Cybertip.ca and what kind of work do you do?

Cybertip.ca is Canada’s national tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children.

Operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P), the tipline launched September 26, 2002 as a pilot project in Manitoba. In May 2004, Cybertip.ca was adopted under the Government of Canada’s National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet.

We receive and process tips from the public about potentially illegal material, as well as activities regarding the online sexual exploitation of children, and refer any relevant leads to the appropriate law enforcement agency and/or child welfare agency.

MS: What types of crimes are children and teenagers most exposed to online today, and what trends have you noticed in recent years?

While reports of Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Material (CSAEM) continue to be the most common type of report received by Cybertip.ca, we have seen a dramatic and continued increase in Luring, specifically Sextortion reports since 2021.  There are typically 2 types of Sextortion reported to the tipline: Financial Sextortion where the victim is pressured to send money or gift cards under the threat of having intimate images of the victim shared online, and non-financial where the demand is for additional sexual content, usually of escalating severity.  Generally, boys are the primary target for financial sextortion while girls are the most common victims of non-financial sextortion.  Snapchat and Instagram (and increasingly TikTok over the past 18 months) are the most common social media platforms involved in these incidents, but any platform that features direct messaging is of possible use by those targeting children for exploitation.

 

MS: What warning signs should concern a parent or teacher, and what should they do when a child admits that something has happened?

1. 1.Monitor your teen’s behaviour to watch for changes that may trigger cause for concern. It’s important to pay attention to changes in your teen’s typical behaviour patterns, as well as changes in the intensity of their behaviour. Some signs that may indicate the need for increased involvement and communication with your teen include:
   • They seem more withdrawn, sad, anxious, defensive, angry, or secretive.
   • They have significantly increased or decreased the amount of time they spend online.
   • They do not respond to limits placed on how often and how long they spend online.
   • They have lost interest in activities that they’ve normally enjoyed.
   • They are complaining of stomach aches or headaches.
   • They develop problems with sleeping patterns, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep at night, or sleeping all the time and avoiding interaction.

2. 2.Supporting a child who has been sexually victimized

1. • Be supportive: love and support during this difficult time, will help your child heal and move forward
   • Build a sense of safety: reassure your child that they are not alone, and you will get through this together
   • Reach out of help where needed: Cybertip.ca and NeedHelpNow.ca are here to help

MS: What role should schools play in prevention, and what resources does Cybertip.ca offer to educators and families?

Schools play a critical role in prevention and in supporting students’ safety. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s Kids in the Know Program equips teachers with ready-to-use, age-appropriate lessons that help children build personal safety skills—both online and offline. We recently released our Youth Non-Consensual Distribution of Intimate Images (NCDII): A Guide for Schools which is designed to support school personnel in respond to incidents of youth NCDII in ways that prioritize safety, dignity, and well-being of youth. Parents can also visit protectkidsonline.ca for prevention and educational resources.

MS: If you could leave three pieces of advice for the parents, what would they be?

• Encourage open conversations: Talk to your teen about what they see online. Creating an open line of communication may encourage them to go to you or another safe adult if they encounter content that makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.
• Enable parental controls: Setting parental controls, content filters, and establishing clear boundaries on device use — such as screen time limits, or turning off the Wi-Fi at night — can help reduce the risk of your teen being potentially exposed to harmful content online.
• Report the content: Flagging harmful content may help platforms and algorithms better identify material that shouldn’t be viewed by young users and could help remove, reduce, or restrict the likelihood that similar harmful content will continue to appear in their feeds.
• Share resources: Let youth know help is available if they, or someone they know, gets targeted. They can always reach out to:
  • Cybertip.ca
  • NeedHelpNow.ca
  • Law enforcement

Madalena Balça/MS