The provincial government says it plans to introduce regulatory changes that aim to "better safeguard" student information from being "stolen or used inappropriately."

On Thursday, Ontario’s Public and Business Service Delivery Minister Todd McCarthy said he intends to table new legislation next week that would “prohibit the misuse of data created by children and youth engaging with schools and children’s aid societies.”

McCarthy said the new legislation, which will be titled the “Strengthening Cybersecurity and Building Trust in the Public Sector Act,” will be tabled on Monday.

Few details about the legislation have been provided but the province said future regulations could include “age-appropriate standards” for programs used by students on laptops and other devices at school, as well as “strengthened standards” for software procured by schools to prevent student information be used or sold for “predatory marketing” by third parties.

“The proposed act, if passed, will be a comprehensive approach to strengthening cybersecurity and privacy protections in schools, children’s aid societies, hospitals and indeed across the public sector,” McCarthy said Thursday.

McCarthy noted that while online platforms provide “many opportunities for children’s education and growth,” there are risks to their privacy.

“Our government wants our children to have a healthy, safe and age-appropriate digital experience when engaging with public sector organizations like schools which is why we are safeguarding their best interests by putting guardrails in place to better protect them,” the minister said in a written statement.

The province has vowed to collaborate with school boards, parents and other stakeholders to ensure the appropriate protections are introduced “without affecting the quality of education or interfering with schools’ ability to choose the right tools for the classroom.”

The provincial government has also promised to consult with “social media and tech industry experts” as well as law enforcement officials to “crack down” on cybercrimes, including cyberbullying, trafficking, and online victimization of children. The province also noted that work is underway to “ensure artificial intelligence is used responsibly.”

“Today’s announcement includes a commitment to bring forth the social media executives and tech experts to meet with (us), including the OPP and law enforcement, to tackle some of the clear concerns that many parents and frankly cyber experts know with respect to access to age-appropriate content, concerns around the algorithms and how they are impacting our kids, and obviously issues of cyberbullying. All of these will be addressed,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said at Thursday’s announcement.

“For the first time, government will have the ability to set those limitations, safeguards, and oversights.”

The education minister said this new legislation, coupled with the new rules he announced last month on cellphone use in schools, are some of the ways the province is working to protect students from online harms.

At the end of April, Lecce announced new rules that would limit cellphone use by students in schools.

Starting in September, students in kindergarten to Grade 6 will be expected to keep their phones on silent and out of sight for the entire day, unless otherwise permitted by an educator.

For students in Grades 7 to 12, cellphones will only be banned during class time.

Lecce said the recent arrests of dozens of suspects by Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in a multi-jurisdictional child sexual exploitation investigation underscores the need for such protections.

On Wednesday, the OPP announced that 64 suspects are facing a combined 348 charges in connection with a series of child sexual exploitation investigations that spanned across the province.

“It is a great tragedy to see so many young people being victimized in our country,” Lecce said.

“There are still too many young people being exploited online, peer-to-peer, sometimes by predatory adults. We have to do more to strengthen and safeguard our kids when they are learning or engaging online.”