New provincial law will broaden mandate of children’s advocate

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This article was published 01/12/2015 (3270 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The secrecy surrounding the deaths of Tina Fontaine and Kierra Williams, killed while in the care of Manitoba’s child-welfare system, will be lifted by new legislation coming today.

The long-awaited new rules governing the Office of the Children’s Advocate will expand its mandate and give it more latitude to release publicly the investigative reports it must do every time a child dies in care.

In the last three years, 41 Manitoba kids have died in care, most from accidents or illness. But those figures also include four homicides and 26 suicides, several of which have made headlines but all of which remain cloaked in confidentiality rules.

The new legislation will allow Manitoba Children’s Advocate Darlene MacDonald to release all or part of her report if there is a public interest at play and if the child’s family consents to the release. And the legislation broadens MacDonald’s powers beyond the child-welfare system. When the legislation passes, her reach will extend into corrections, schools and the health-care system, allowing her to help children in jail or who are bullied in school.

Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross confirmed the details of the new legislation Wednesday, saying the move will make good on the recommendations that emerged from the Phoenix Sinclair inquiry.

Kierra Elektra Star Williams, 21 months, died of trauma-related injuries in July 2014 at the hospital near Peguis First Nation. Kierra’s mother, Vanessa Bushie, 36, was charged with second-degree murder and failure to provide the necessities of life. Kierra’s father, Daniel Williams, 33, was charged with manslaughter and failure to provide the necessities of life. Kierra’s stepsister, Jasmine Bushie, 20, was charged with manslaughter and failure to provide the necessities of life.

Her case resembles that of Phoenix Sinclair. But a court-ordered publication ban prohibits any reporting of the details of her death, and the province’s vast child-welfare system has refused to discuss what services the toddler was getting, when social workers last saw her or how the alleged abuse slipped past them.

Provincial policies suggest as many as three internal investigations have been done since Kierra’s death — one by Intertribal Child and Family Services, one by the Southern Authority and one by the child protection branch. But none will be released, and the province will not confirm whether the reports are complete.

The children’s advocate’s new powers were recommended by commissioner Ted Hughes in his massive inquiry into Phoenix’s torture and death in 2005 at the hands of her mother and stepfather. Hughes recommended Manitoba’s children’s advocate’s office be reformed based on British Columbia’s model, with its own legislation, the power to advocate for any child getting publicly funded services and the power to investigate injuries, not just child deaths.

MacDonald said her office has been pushing for years for the changes, including the ability to offer more information to the public about child deaths.

“We’re pleased with the announcement of the proposed changes, and we’ll be really excited when the changes mean a change in service for children and youth,” said MacDonald Wednesday.

But MacDonald said she wasn’t sure the changes would come before the end of her term in 2017.

The legislation must still pass several readings in the house, which rises today. It’s not clear whether there will be time to pass the legislation during the brief session that begins in late February. After that, the house breaks for the provincial election, slated for April 19.

The children’s advocate typically waits until any criminal proceedings are complete before launching its investigation for fear of contaminating a police probe or creating new evidence. That means the advocate has not begun active work on its review of Kierra’s death.

In cases such as that of Tina Fontaine, the 15-year-old whose body was found in a bag in the Red River in August 2014, the advocate’s new legislation would allow MacDonald to ask Manitoba Justice for permission to begin her investigation if no charges have been laid after a year.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca