Fallout from Tina Fontaine report continues

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This article was published 19/03/2019 (2109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The fallout from the Manitoba advocate for children and youth’s special report on the life and death of Tina Fontaine continued this week, with the provincial families minister accusing the advocate of not alerting her about other at-risk children.

On March 12, Daphne Penrose told media at the launch of her report on Tina that another 17 Manitoba youth were similarly in immediate danger because of drug addictions and lack of available treatment.

“Children are going to die if we don’t make changes,” Penrose said at the time.

Families Minister Heather Stefanson said Wednesday she was disappointed Penrose didn’t bring up those youth in a meeting they had to discuss the Tina report on Feb. 6.

“These 17 individuals were not mentioned at all. I have serious concerns about that. I think that if we’re really out for what’s in the best interest of children, we need to work together on these things,” Stefanson said.

The minister said she immediately sought the names of the 17 youth from the advocate and information about their well-being.

She said the director of Child and Family Services reached out to the advocate for the list of names March 13, and received the information the next day. They shared the information with the respective child-welfare agencies and all the youth now have safety plans in place, the minister said.

Asked whether the youth were actually at imminent risk of danger, Stefanson said media would have to ask the advocate.

“She’s the one who came out with those allegations. Obviously, when we heard that, I was very concerned,” she said. “This is unusual, I will say, where a children’s advocate will not share this kind of information. This is about the safety of children in our province.”

For her part, Penrose said she’s been sharing information about Manitoba’s at-risk youth for months, including a statement she issued in September 2018 about youth needing immediate access to mental health and addictions treatment, which is lacking provincially.

“The youth who are at risk related to their addictions is not new this week, and it wasn’t new last week when I put out the report about Tina, right?” the advocate said in an interview.

“We all know in the province we have some really significant issues with addictions, and so the lives of these kids are really complicated, and kids are addicted and have co-occurring diseases. Again, this is not a situation that’s only happened on March 12. It’s been happening for years. And you see it in Tina’s story.”

Tina, 15, was found dead in the Red River in August 2014, after falling through the cracks of the systems meant to keep her safe, including CFS and Winnipeg police. In her report, Penrose outlined Tina’s addiction issues, which included use of cannabis and alcohol.

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont decried Stefanson’s criticism of Penrose.

“It’s totally inappropriate for the minister to be treating the advocate that way. The advocate has been set out to be independent, it’s her job to stand up and be independent and challenge this government. And for the minister to call her into question on that is absolutely shameful,” Lamont said.

Penrose has been more vocal about issues affecting Manitoba youth than past advocates, thanks in part to her expanded powers legislated under the current government.

The advocate now has the ability to release special reports and investigations to the general public, which previously only went to government and the affected child-welfare agencies. The advocate can also make recommendations to departments other than families, such as education, health and justice, for areas that need improvement.

“It’s tough for people to hear (and) to be investigated, right? To have these big reports come out,” Penrose said of government’s reactions to her reports. “I think it’s just people trying to digest everything.”

jessica.botelho@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @_jessbu