The province’s new Child and Youth Advocate is very concerned with the recent revelation that a local child was targeted and coerced by an extremist online group through a popular online gaming platform.

RNC issued a warning to parents after connecting two recent calls to the capital city’s downtown to 764, an online group that recruits and targets children and young people to hurt themselves.

Wilma MacInnis, a social worker by profession who has worked with the Child and Youth Advocate’s office for the last eight years, assumed the Advocate’s position this week.

She told VOCM Open Line with Brian Callahan they are continually researching issues and trends locally, nationally and internationally to keep up with ongoing issues.

MacInnis says it’s important that children understand that they have rights and to be informed about potential dangers.

“No matter what the threat looks like, in terms of it’s online if it’s a perpetrator, we need to arm our children with the best knowledge possible. And such a big piece of that is that they have rights. They have a right to have a voice and to be protected and to be cared for, and not to be harmed.”