Report of safety-net failure in Tina Fontaine case expected before summer, children’s advocate says

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This article was published 26/02/2018 (2397 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s children’s advocate says she is unlikely to complete a report into how child welfare workers and others dealt with Tina Fontaine until May or June.

Daphne Penrose said Tuesday her office was unable to interview key people involved with the case while it was before the courts. She said she and her staff must still wait out a 30-day court appeal period before embarking on the final phase of their report.

“What’s really important for our office is that we never interfere in a criminal investigation or matter that is before the court,” Penrose said in an interview. “We could not do certain things on that investigation until the criminal investigation and the court matter were complete.”

That included speaking with anyone who was to testify in court — or could possibly have been called to testify, she said.

At this point, Penrose doesn’t know how many people her office will need to interview. That will depend on what the various social workers, agency officials and perhaps police officers have to say.

“You have to follow the information,” she said.

An 11-person jury found Raymond Cormier not guilty of second-degree murder last week in 15-year-old Tina’s death in August 2014. The Sagkeeng First Nation teen had been in the care of Child and Family Services and was last seen leaving a downtown Winnipeg hotel, where she had been placed in the care of a private agency contracted by government.

Under legislation passed last year — but still to be proclaimed —the children’s advocate has been given greater investigative powers and the ability to decide which reports it will make public.

A cabinet spokeswoman said Tuesday the government is looking at proclaiming The Advocate for Children and Youth Act near the start of the spring sitting of the legislature, which begins March 7.

Penrose said she intends to publicly release a “summary version” of the report centring on which services were or weren’t provided to Tina.

“I won’t probably release a lot of the details about Tina’s life because what’s important here is that we understand what services were or weren’t provided to her and what things need to happen to effect that change,” she said.

Penrose said the May-June completion date target assumes that the Crown won’t file an appeal in the Cormier case. Her office has already reviewed the CFS files involving Tina.

Meanwhile, Penrose said she also expects her office will release a report on CFS interaction with Kierra Elektra Star Williams, whose death at 21 months has been likened to that of Phoenix Sinclair. Kierra died of internal bleeding in July 2014. The Peguis First Nation tot had been severely malnourished and her body showed signs of prolonged abuse. Her mother, Vanessa Bushie, was convicted of second-degree murder last year. This week, her father, Daniel Vernon Williams, was convicted of manslaughter.

“There is a likelihood that I will release a summary version of the services that were and were not provided there, as well,” Penrose said of Kierra’s death. “If we see some remarkable issues we will make sure that the public is aware of them.”

Penrose said that once the new legislation governing her office is proclaimed, she will be releasing special reports on other important cases, not just those that hit the courts. She said she held back a report into one case that was cued up to be released this year since the new legislation will allow her to take a broader look at the role that various agencies and government departments — not just CFS — played in the life of the child.

Penrose said the new legislation will also allow her to follow up on past recommendations made by the children’s advocate office.

She said a review of the numerous reports produced by the office in the past decade would show that past children’s advocates have already addressed many of the issues plaguing the system today.

A lot of past recommendations “don’t seem to have been implemented,” Penrose said. “If they have, the implementation has not been effective.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca