It took decades to get sa国际传媒 to pay attention to the deaths and injuries of vulnerable children, and it鈥檚 a struggle to keep the province鈥檚 eyes focused on them. sa国际传媒鈥檚 representative for children and youth says the system designed to track problems and seek solutions isn鈥檛 working.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond announced this week she is stepping down as chairwoman of a forum that was designed to share information on deaths and injuries to children.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e collaborating,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that we are learning.
鈥淎nd I鈥檓 particularly not prepared, in my role, to passively be part of a process that tells the public that there are reviews and processes in place when there are not.鈥�
It鈥檚 possible to hear the teeth grinding in government offices every time Turpel-Lafond presents another to-do list for ministers and civil servants. It鈥檚 easy to hand out prescriptions when you don鈥檛 have to find the money and people to make them work.
But the representative wasn鈥檛 appointed to make government鈥檚 job easier. She speaks for those who have been unheard for too long. She ensures that children do not become footnotes in forgotten reports.
The forum was recommended by former judge Ted Hughes in 2006. He suggested the ministry set it up, but that didn鈥檛 happen, so Turpel-Lafond stepped in.
The forum includes representatives from the coroners service, the Ombudsperson, the Public Guardian and Trustee, the Provincial Health Officer and the Ministry of Children and Family Development.
Unfortunately, attendance and information-sharing at the forum meetings has been spotty, the children鈥檚 representative said. The coroners service said it supports the idea of sharing and has been part of the forum from the beginning.
How do we square that claim of commitment with the representative鈥檚 charge that reports are moving at a glacial pace or not arriving at all?
Turpel-Lafond cited the case of 21-month-old Isabella Wiens, who died in a Burnaby foster home in 2013. She said the sa国际传媒 Coroners Service did not give her office its verdict in the Wiens case, and the Ministry of Children and Family Development said an internal death review was being done when none was started.
The coroners service maintains that the representative鈥檚 office is always notified of cases and gets copies of reports when it requests them. The coroners service said the Wiens report was completed in March 2014 and given to Turpel-Lafond a year later.
Wherever the truth lies in that dispute, everyone involved has to remember that the children are the ones who matter. The point of the forum is not to assign blame, but to examine tragedies and find ways to make sure the same thing doesn鈥檛 happen to other children. It should be a mission, not a chore.
Turpel-Lafond wants Justice Minister and Attorney General Suzanne Anton to bring in legislation or regulations to ensure the various agencies collaborate, but instead, Anton asked the Ministry of Children and Family Development to examine the issues.
Legislation won鈥檛 change attitudes or overcome inertia. The law books are full of enactments that get lip service.
If agencies and departments aren鈥檛 co-operating in the forum, it鈥檚 because they feel no sense of urgency. Other tasks will take priority unless everyone starts to see this job as one that really matters.
Changing attitudes doesn鈥檛 require legislation; it requires leadership.
