http://readingchildrensbooks.blogspot.ca/2013/12/province-of-alberta-28th-legislature_19.html
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Province of Alberta The 28th Legislature First Session Alberta Hansard Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013 Issue 74a The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker—————-Post # 2 ———– The ongoing conflagration at the house of corruption in Alberta ———-Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, the public can have confidence because they have an independent officer of the Legislature called the Child and Youth Advocate, who has access to all the information, has the ability to call a review, has the powers of a commissioner under the Public Inquiries Act, as well as a fatality review board, which has an obligation to review all deaths and in appropriate circumstances call for a fatality review.———-Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, the death of any child, in care or not, is a tragic circumstance. Many of us are parents. We know how much we love our children and how much we care about them and how much it would hurt if we lost them in any circumstance. Every single member in this House, I think, cares about children in care and about children in Alberta. What we want to have is a system which honours the caregivers, honours the people in the system who care for those in the most vulnerable circumstances and an opportunity to review appropriately where tragic circumstances happen.———This is the Hancock’s lawyer submission to the jury of the public. He is sincere. He bleeds. He is a parent. He understands our outrage. He feels. But we do not give a damn about this acting. We are determined to get the answers to our questions–how did the government of Alberta perform with reference to these 145 dead children? Who is responsible for this genocide? Why can’t we say their names? Why are their stories not told? Who will end the silence? End the bullshit about honoring folks Mr. Hancock and give us the facts. The jury is unimpressed with this lawyer’s submission of the great performance of the accused in this case. The government is losing this case badly.——————– The Speaker: The hon. leader. Second supplemental. Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, when asked by the media about the lack of special case reviews, the assistant deputy minister responsible for human services said, ”There might be some conversations between the statutory director and their staff. . . but we don’t necessarily create reports. . . Some of it might be meetings; there may not be minutes.” Unwritten recommendations, no minutes, and informal processes: shocking. Will the Premier agree to call a full public inquiry on the issue of deaths of children in care? ************************************************************** Ms. Smith, is quite right to say that this type of performance by the Human Services department is actually very illegal. Every meeting needs minutes. Every discussion of a child death needs a summary statement. Every child death needs to have an inquiry by the police. This entire sequence of department activities shriek –cover up!———A massive lawsuit claiming the Alberta government failed to take legal action or seek compensation on behalf of children in its care is moving towards trial. The suit claims the province failed to apply for victims-of-crime compensation or file personal injury claims for children abused prior to or while in the care of Alberta Child Welfare. A very preliminary estimate of the unresolved claims has been set as high as $890 million.-
all that you ever do
will be the raindrops falling
on the desert of silence
in Alberta
but it is still necessary
to say
and ask for answers
to explain the deaths of the children
we are not to keep silent
we are to ask what happened
and why did the government of Alberta
not reveal this information?
why did they try to evade
our scrutiny?
what are they hiding?
if there is nothing to hide
then tell us why
the children died
we have a right to know
democracy is all about information
and we understand
that the Tories have clamped down
on the data they possess
so as to subvert the work of citizens
which is always
to hold our government accountable
but how are we to do our part of the work
if we have a government that is not transparent?
how are we to be good citizens
if the government is criminal
and hides its poor performance?
prove to us that the children did not die
because of negligence
of the Tories
prove to us that the performance
that the Tories are always crowing about is truth and not lies
give us the data
that we do not have so that
that we may do our jobs as citizens
give us a public inquiry so we can bury our dead respectfully
let us have accurate information
so that we understand the betrayal of the public servants
and so that we may vote for people
who actually do the work
we pay them for
tell us what went wrong
in Alberta
so that 145 children died in the care of the government
and we did not know
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Members’ Statements
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-Fish Creek.
Deaths of Children in Care
Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The shocking revelations
about the state of our children in care have Albertans heartbroken.
They cannot comprehend how senseless tragedies like the deaths
of vulnerable children could go unreported for so long.
Mr. Speaker, as the Premier rightly pointed out yesterday, I was
the minister of children’s services at one point in time. I know
what comes across the desk. Some of these cases are absolutely
stomach-churning. They can often involve the worst kind of
neglect and abuse, and each and every one of them is full of
heartbreak. They’re haunting.
I also know that the department counts amongst its staff some of
the most caring and compassionate souls that I’ve ever had the
pleasure of working with. However, Mr. Speaker, as the recent
media investigations have revealed, there is something seriously
wrong with how it responds to the death of children in care. In
many cases the children passed years ago, but their stories are
only now being told for the very first time.
Mr. Speaker, there is an opportunity that comes from each of
these stories. It’s an opportunity that cannot be wasted. We must
learn why these tragedies keep occurring. Until we do, how can
we know what steps to take to prevent them in the future? As the
former minister I can honestly say with absolute certainty that
nothing short of a full public inquiry will fix this. I don’t say that
lightly. I know I will be called to testify, and I know I will do it
without hesitation.
1:50
Mr. Speaker, this isn’t about politics. I know that the current
minister works hard in a difficult portfolio, and I know that the
ministers before him did as well. But we need to set aside our
personal hesitation and do what’s right. If there were things that I
should have done as minister, I want to know about them,
Albertans deserve to know about them, and the families that lost
children deserve to know about them. I’m asking this government:
please, call a public inquiry. It’s about doing the right thing
************************************************
Let us leave the question of why this former Tory did not reveal to us the matter of these children dying and go to the next part of the chatter at the house of corruption in Alberta. She is asking for this corrupt crew to do the right thing when she didn’t do the right thing when she was part of the corrupt crew. The irony of this tender situation does not escape me.
The Tories and the Wildrosies are the same apples from the same tree of political corruption. We need to chop it down in Alberta and start afresh with a new party with no name. I’ll call it the No Name Alberta party because that way there would be no residual bad memories to these oil party representatives that never represented citizens in Alberta.
But let us go back to dead children.
We understand that everyone knew in the Tory party about these deaths –most especially Ms. Forsyth and certainly my MLA–Dave Hancock and yet they are all now just asking for an inquiry (well at least the Wildrosie MLA is asking for one since it would put the Tories like Dave Hancock in an uncomfortable situation of explaining to his constituents what the hell is going on in the Ministry of Human Services).
The Wildrosie MLA is asking the Tories to go beyond their usual dirty politics and give us the clean bill of health that a public inquiry would provide. The public inquiry would answer some questions. However this is Alberta and we can’t be sure that we will get answers since it appears to this mummy that an awful number of lawyers and judges have Tory party convictions that might make them closed mouthed about Tory party messes. I am not sure about this matter —the sanctity of our judicial system since Jessica Ernst’s lawyer was played with by the Harper guy. It seems that corruption goes up and down and sideways and backwards in our society.
A public inquiry is a beginning but it is unlikely to happen because this would prove that the Tories are negligent in this area of governance as they seem to be in nearly every area of governance I have looked at so far. Really it is a wonder to me that we haven’t had a total collapse in our society with this group of incompetents and the only reason I think we have managed to keep going without financial implosion is because despite the cronyism, graft and corruption there was enough bitumen dollars to pay for the Tories and the Tory family.
However the time of reckoning is now. Mummies want answers and they won’t shut up and Mr. Hancock isn’t going to sit around being burnt to a crisp. He’s been in the politics game for a long time in Alberta and knows that there is a limit to the number of dead children Albertans will tolerate and this is why Dave Hancock has leap frogged out of this manure pile and gone on to greater glory as the side kick of the Iron Lady/Playdoh Lady (the Redford). It is a good reward for a few days of grilling in the Alberta Legislature (the house of all things corrupt).
I am sure you all understand that Dave Hancock is not dumb. He understands that any MLA in this particular Ministry is a cooked Christmas goose and so he has handed over this mess to another less experienced sucker (he probably begged on his knees to the Redford Queen to get the hell out of the burning building and luckily for him— his Christmas gift come early).
But before he got the early present from Santa Redford for diverting, avoiding, deflecting the opposition questions in all the ways known to politicians engaged in dirty politics in Alberta–he had to go through the few days of the high octane grilling of his goose before the house of corruption closed for the holidays.
So let us go on with the shenanigans that we pay for.
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Oral Question Period
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Highwood. Your first main
set of questions.
Deaths of Children in Care
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister assured this
Chamber that there were a number of mechanisms designed to
ensure that the deaths of children in care are fully and properly
investigated. However, as was made plain in media reports today,
these different processes are deeply flawed. To quote the
Edmonton Journal, “The child death review system is governed
by two ministries, three different laws, an internal policy document, unwritten conventions and political whim” and “in the end,
many deaths are never investigated at all.” To the Premier . . .
The Speaker: Thank you.
Mr. Hancock: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. It may sound like a
complex system, but it’s a very thorough system. There are
internal reviews; there’s the medical examiner, who does a
medical review; the quality assurance council looks at things from
a systems perspective; and the Child and Youth Advocate is
ultimately responsible as the eyes, ears, and voice of the public.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, the media investigation into this sad
situation calls the system for investigating these deaths “secretive,
redundant and fails to ensure recommendations to prevent similar
deaths are acted upon.” The groups and agencies involved are
described as secretive with limited public accountability. Given
this indictment of the system, which the minister in question says
has met his expectations, will the Premier agree to call a public
inquiry on the issue of deaths of children in care?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, far from the way it was just
described, it’s a fairly effective system in terms of a medical
examiner that looks at the medical causes of death; the quality
assurance council, which can look at the systemic approach; and
the Child and Youth Advocate, who has access to all information.
There are also internal reviews, of course, so that we can inform
practice. What I have said is that we can get better, and we will
look to get better. We will have a round-table bring all the experts
together to look at what information should be public, who should
make it public, and how death reviews should be conducted.
Ms Smith: In fact, Mr. Speaker, the investigation into the government’s handling of child deaths for those in government care
appears to be verging on chaos. One example of this is the fact
that the death review system is governed by three different laws,
each of which uses a different legal definition for what constitutes
reviewable death. To the Premier. Albertans need to have confidence that child deaths are being appropriately investigated. Will
she agree to call a full public inquiry on the issue of deaths of
children in care?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, the public can have confidence
because they have an independent officer of the Legislature called
the Child and Youth Advocate, who has access to all the
information, has the ability to call a review, has the powers of a
commissioner under the Public Inquiries Act, as well as a fatality
review board, which has an obligation to review all deaths and in
appropriate circumstances call for a fatality review.
The Speaker: The hon. leader. Second main set of questions.
Ms Smith: The government’s failure to disclose an accurate
number of child deaths for those in government care raises the
suspicion that the government is trying to avoid public scrutiny on
this issue. While the minister claims that the result of all reviews
are made public, the fact remains that there are many deaths for
which we have no specific information. Will the Premier call a
full public review on the issue of deaths of children in care?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, the death of any child, in care or not,
is a tragic circumstance. Many of us are parents. We know how
much we love our children and how much we care about them and
how much it would hurt if we lost them in any circumstance.
Every single member in this House, I think, cares about children
in care and about children in Alberta. What we want to have is a
system which honours the caregivers, honours the people in the
system who care for those in the most vulnerable circumstances
and an opportunity to review appropriately where tragic circumstances happen.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, in addition to failing to disclose the
accurate number of deaths of children in care, the government has
also drastically reduced the number of special case reviews it has
conducted over the past 10 years, stopping them altogether in
2009. The government’s claim that it is fully investigating all
child deaths, when it has halted special case reviews, is simply not
credible. To the Premier: will she agree to call a full inquiry on the
issue of deaths of children in care?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, in the first year that I became
Minister of Human Services I was mandated by the Premier to put
children first and to make sure that we deal with children in this
province in an appropriate way. We published the numbers, all of
the numbers, of children who died in care. But previously the
numbers that were not published were those of children who were
determined to have died under natural circumstances or where
there was not a questionable circumstance around their death. So
that is the situation in Alberta. We’re always looking to do things
better. We’ll have a round-table. We’ll bring people together to
talk about what information . . .
The Speaker: The hon. leader. Second supplemental.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, when asked by the media about the lack
of special case reviews, the assistant deputy minister responsible
for human services said, ”There might be some conversations
between the statutory director and their staff. . . but we don’t
necessarily create reports. . . Some of it might be meetings; there
may not be minutes.” Unwritten recommendations, no minutes,
and informal processes: shocking. Will the Premier agree to call a
full public inquiry on the issue of deaths of children in care?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, one thing I can assure this House and
one thing I can assure the Alberta public is that the people who
work in the Department of Human Services and the people who
work in the system in agencies who help children care about their
children. Every serious incident and death is investigated and
learned from. The learnings are shared in an appropriate way
within the department. You can call it a special review, or you can
call it something else. The work is done and it’s shared and it’s
implemented. Every time an incident like that happens, we learn
from it, and we improve.
The Speaker: The hon. leader. Third main set of questions.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, following the tragic death of each child
in government care, we have to endeavour to learn what we can
from these sad occurrences. While hard and painful, the lessons
we take from each death can help to prevent future deaths from
occurring. To date internal and historical recommendations from
past reviews are not publicly available. To ensure that all appropriate information is brought to light, will the Premier agree to call
a full public inquiry on the issue of deaths of children in care?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, public fatality review reports are, in
fact, public, and responses to them are often made public. They
certainly have been since I’ve been minister. We respond publicly
to the Child and Youth Advocate’s public recommendations. We
will have a round-table. We will bring together all appropriate
voices to discuss how we can do a better job because all of us
want to do a better job for children in Alberta all the time.
Ms Smith: The problem is, Mr. Speaker, that of the 258 recommendations put forward by experts, we have no idea how many
have actually been implemented. Despite the minister’s assurances
that, quote, a more formal tracking process, unquote, has been put
in place, they have released no specific details on how this process
works. It leads Albertans to believe that the government is not
doing all it can to ensure that all of the recommendations are
implemented. To the Premier: will she agree to call a full public
inquiry on the issue of deaths. . .
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, I can assure this House and Albertans
that we do know the recommendations from every report that’s
been put forward, and we do track that internally. We do understand, and we do know what we’re doing with it. What we’ve
committed to do is to respond to the quality assurance council’s
recommendation that a more formal public tracking process be put
in place. We will be doing that, and we will be doing that right
away.
2:00
Ms Smith: Pressed by the media to explain how his tracking
system would ensure that no recommendation falls through the
cracks, the minister responsible said: I’m confident that we
actually do a pretty good job, I think an excellent job, of learning
from circumstances. However, this government’s refusal to make
public the information surrounding these deaths calls into question
the minister’s claim of excellence. Will the Premier agree to call a
full public inquiry into the issue of deaths of children in care?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, that hon. member may think it calls
into question the excellence that’s happening in the system, but I
can tell you that I have had nothing but letters and phone calls
from people who work in the system, from agencies, from
individuals, from foster parents who are concerned that much of
ildren in government care is nearly three times what official
statistics say. This is a very serious issue, and Albertans need to be
assured that children in government care are being given the
attention they need in every single case. Will the Premier agree
today to launch a full public inquiry?
Ms Redford: Well, Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, as a parent,
as an Albertan any death of any child in this province is an
incredible tragedy. We have to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to protect children, particularly children in care. That
is why our minister has taken the steps that he has in the past two
years since we formed government to ensure that we are publicly
accountable for every issue that comes up, that we have a child
advocate that is independent of the government, that we have a
quality advisory council that includes health care experts from the
Stollery and the University of Calgary to deal with child protection.
We are committed to doing everything we need to do working in
partnership with the opposition to make this situation better for all
children.
Ms Smith: Sounds like everything except a full public inquiry,
Mr. Speaker.
The government claims the large discrepancy between the
official number of deaths and the actual number of deaths is due to
how they account for “natural causes.” However, the media
reports clearly indicate that this does not, in fact, fully explain the
discrepancy between the two sets of numbers. Even with 68 deaths
attributed to natural causes, that still leaves the government unable
to account for 21 deaths of children in their care. A full public
inquiry would provide some clarity on this sad and disturbing issue.
Will the Premier commit today to launch a full public inquiry?
Ms Redford: Well, Mr. Speaker, the work that is done in the
department of children’s services and has been done over many
years by many ministers, including the Member for Calgary-Fish
Creek, has been about ensuring that we protect children. It is very
important that we understand exactly what is going on. That is
why we have an independent child advocate. That is why we have
a quality assurance council. We are committed to ensuring that we
continue to make the system better. That is fundamentally
important. We need to bring people together to talk about this. Our
minister today has offered that we need to do that, and we hope to
work together with everyone to protect all children even better in
the system.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, we’ll take him up on that, but we still
need a full public inquiry. The Member for Calgary-Fish Creek
agrees that we need a full public inquiry as well.
On the issue of natural causes there also appears to be some
confusion about what actually constitutes a natural cause. A news
report today details the tragic story of a baby placed in a bassinette
which was improperly set up. The bassinette collapsed, and the
child was killed. This was initially attributed to a sleep death;
however, prior to 2010 no fatality inquiries were done into sleep
deaths, which raises questions about whether statistics about
natural causes are accurate. Will the Premier commit today to
having a full public inquiry into this matter?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member will know is
that we have a very thorough process which involves the medical
examiner. Every death of a child in care with Human Services is
reported to the medical examiner, and the medical examiner
investigates. We now have a Child and Youth Advocate that is
independent of the Legislature. Every death or serious injury of a
child in care or subject to any programs of the department is
referred to the Child and Youth Advocate, and he has full access
to all the electronic records and full access to all the information
in the department. All deaths of children in care are reported to the
quality assurance council. So there are three ways in which there’s
a complete and thorough review of any death of a child in care.
The Speaker: The hon. leader. Second main set of questions.
Ms Smith: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s not what the Child
and Youth Advocate says in his report, and it also isn’t the case
prior to 2012, which is what we’re asking about.
Many of the deaths which the government characterizes as
being of natural causes might well have been fully preventable.
For years the government did not feel compelled to fully report the
deaths of children in government care. Will the Premier acknowledge that simply defining these deaths as being of natural causes
does not provide Albertans with the assurances that they’re
looking for, and will she call a full public inquiry?
Ms Redford: Mr. Speaker, I became the Justice minister five
years ago. One of the reasons I got into public service and one of
the reasons I decided to run for leader is that I thought we needed
to do a better job of ensuring that we were taking care of kids in
care, and that’s because of the experience that I had before I came
to this House. The work that we have put in place, that this
government has put in place, since we were formed two years ago
– an independent child advocate, children first legislation,
ensuring that caregivers and people involved in the system can
share information, ensuring we have a quality assurance council
and that all deaths are reported – is better than what we have ever
seen before. We are proud of it. We’re going to continue to improve
the system, and we’d like do that with the help of the opposition.
Ms Smith: Better, Mr. Speaker, but still not good enough.
We learned today that a significant number of babies who die
while in care die as a result of unsafe sleeping practices. It appears
that some foster parents are not provided with adequate training
on where and how children in their care should sleep. Furthermore, infant deaths while sleeping are rarely reviewed. Bearing in
mind that the vast majority of Alberta’s foster parents are caring,
compassionate, and dedicated individuals, will the Premier commit
to improving the training foster parents receive on the care of
infants, and will she call a full public inquiry to make sure that all
recommendations have been implemented?
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The hon. member should
know that we have actually followed up on recommendations
from past fatality reviews and from past investigations. One of
those was to do a better job of ensuring that foster parents know
about safe sleeping arrangements, et cetera. An example of what
has happened is what’s called safe sleep. It’s putting reviews into
action. We developed safe babies training for foster parents and
kinship caregivers who care for infants that provides valuable
information about caring for infants and the specialized care
required by babies prenatally exposed to substances. It has been
incorporated into training modules and information for caregivers,
including a chapter on infant sleep, with sections on sleep positions, reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, and
Alberta safe sleep guidelines, and every . . .
The Speaker: Thank you, hon. minister.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, this minister has no credibility. Yesterday the minister said in response to a media question that the
number of children who died while in the care of the government
was, quote, not significant, unquote. Well, I’ve already pointed
out that there are at least 21 deaths unaccounted for. Today’s
report reveals that infants in care have a three times higher
mortality rate than those infants who are not in care and 78 per
cent of the children who have died in care since 1999 are
aboriginal. Does the Premier agree with her minister that the
deaths can be characterized as not significant?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, this hon. member is a past master at
taking words out of context even when she wasn’t there to hear
the context. She reads the paper and automatically uses the
language in the way that she wants to characterize it. What’s
really true is that every child is important in this province to this
Premier, to this government, and to this minister. Every child is
significant. What we were talking about yesterday was with respect
to tracking recommendations from reports. We don’t have that
many reports, and we don’t have that many recommendations. I
can assure the hon. member we know about each and every one of
those recommendations, where they’ve gone, and what we’re
doing about them. We are implementing those recommendations.
We have a very good track record on that.
Ms Smith: I think we’d all prefer to see a full public inquiry to
prove that point, Mr. Speaker.
********************************
This is the second bolus of chatter that went on during this day at the house of corruption.
There is chatter going forth from opposition MLAs and the Hancock who does his usual job of making out like the Synergy Chief of the Human Services Ministry.
Bolus number 2 is quite useful to show you that the Tories have learned to waste the tax money we give to pay for their salaries in these useless ways.
But let us go through bolus number 2 since we still have bolus # 3 to go through.
In this section what is the Hancock telling us?
First of all what is the opposition MLA–Ms. Smith asking for?
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Oral Question Period
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Highwood. Your first main
set of questions.
Deaths of Children in Care
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister assured this
Chamber that there were a number of mechanisms designed to
ensure that the deaths of children in care are fully and properly
investigated. However, as was made plain in media reports today,
these different processes are deeply flawed. To quote the
Edmonton Journal, “The child death review system is governed
by two ministries, three different laws, an internal policy document, unwritten conventions and political whim” and “in the end,
many deaths are never investigated at all.” To the Premier . . .
The Speaker: Thank you.
Mr. Hancock: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. It may sound like a
complex system, but it’s a very thorough system. There are
internal reviews; there’s the medical examiner, who does a
medical review; the quality assurance council looks at things from
a systems perspective; and the Child and Youth Advocate is
ultimately responsible as the eyes, ears, and voice of the public.
**********************************************************
In this first question– Ms. Smith is asking why the heck don’t we have a single point of reference for the investigation of child deaths in the province.
The Hancock doesn’t say the truth–which is that the Tories don’t want a single point of reference for these investigations because that would reveal the incompetence of our hires–but instead yaps about how good all these fricking useless layers of government are in obscuring the truth.
We pay for layer upon layer of obstruction of evidence in this government. In my mind Tory buddies are given positions in these different sectors and we get nothing for all our money. The laughable advocate in Alberta does nothing for the public. He is there to pretend that the Tories care about kids. Oh, and let us not forget the Children First button the Hancock always reminds us is the insignia of the devotion he feels for our babies. If he felt this sincerely, then he would have called for a fricking inquiry. If he has nothing to hide, then he would prove this to us. And yet he doesn’t does he? Instead we get the jabbering about the many ways our kids are protected. But why then are they dying in such great numbers?
No answers.
Ms. Smith goes on with her thankless job which is trying to get information from the mouth that never opens so that citizens have to go to the newspapers to find out that 145 kids have died in the so called care of this incompetent government:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Oral Question Period
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Highwood. Your first main
set of questions.
Deaths of Children in Care
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, the media investigation into this sad
situation calls the system for investigating these deaths “secretive,
redundant and fails to ensure recommendations to prevent similar
deaths are acted upon.” The groups and agencies involved are
described as secretive with limited public accountability. Given
this indictment of the system, which the minister in question says
has met his expectations, will the Premier agree to call a public
inquiry on the issue of deaths of children in care?
**********************************************
In this section of the chamber of horrors we get to hear that there are multiple ways to hide the truth from citizens and the worst part is that all these interlocking agencies and authorities are stuffed full of the Tory faithful. I doubt that any good Tory will let out a whimper of any sort of negligence by the Tory party into the public domain and so these various groups and authorities all conspire –in my mind –knowingly or unknowingly to add to the filtration device that the Tories have in place so that only Synergy spin reaches the citizens of Alberta.
Why do they have this data filter in place?
It is simple.
The less we know, the more child-like we are in our faith of the messiah of the Tory party–that was previously the Klein error guy and then the Stelmach jellyfish and now is the Redford Iron lady wannabee.
The contortions of the Tory messiah to be the all knowing party leader of this group of doubtful has beens–are confusing but they all amount to the same end result–which a whole pile of kids dead in this case.
So Ms. Smith tells us the problem that the Edmonton Journal and the Calgary Herald have had to figure out for the politicians.
What is the response of Riverbend’s brightest throw of the cap into the provincial politics ring?
More Synergy spin. It is tiresome that a man who once was able to make whole sentences as an education minister is now reduced to evasions of the sort that would make it problematic in a court of law for this guy to pretend he is a lawyer of any ethics:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Oral Question Period
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Highwood. Your first main
set of questions.
Deaths of Children in Care
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, far from the way it was just
described, it’s a fairly effective system in terms of a medical
examiner that looks at the medical causes of death; the quality
assurance council, which can look at the systemic approach; and
the Child and Youth Advocate, who has access to all information.
There are also internal reviews, of course, so that we can inform
practice. What I have said is that we can get better, and we will
look to get better. We will have a round-table bring all the experts
together to look at what information should be public, who should
make it public, and how death reviews should be conducted.
**********************************************************
So basically the Hancock is saying that despite the pile of corpses in a mass grave that is before Albertans we are not to be fooled by the massive genocide of mostly aboriginal kids and that “it’s a fairly effective system in terms of a medical examiner that looks at the medical causes of death; the quality assurance council, which can look at the systemic approach; and the Child and Youth Advocate” who all study the dead files. On top of these entities studying files we have no access to the government also does “internal reviews”. With all this information a public inquiry should be a fast business but no, the guy says we will simply do a chatter in the new year to tie up loose ends like why we have 145 kids dead despite all these folks we are paying for to avoid these messes.
I am beginning to like Ms. Smith who isn’t afraid to wade into the Synergy spin stories and get to the root of our request. I am sure that if she becomes the new premier in the next provincial election I won’t care anymore because she will be the price I pay to get these blood sucking leeches off the bodies of us.
In this case, the poor woman gamely goes at the MLA who is to represent this mummy and puts my request to him–so are we getting that inquiry?
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Oral Question Period
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Highwood. Your first main
set of questions.
Deaths of Children in Care
Ms Smith: In fact, Mr. Speaker, the investigation into the government’s handling of child deaths for those in government care
appears to be verging on chaos. One example of this is the fact
that the death review system is governed by three different laws,
each of which uses a different legal definition for what constitutes
reviewable death. To the Premier. Albertans need to have confidence that child deaths are being appropriately investigated. Will
she agree to call a full public inquiry on the issue of deaths of
children in care?
**************************************************************
I like the way this woman says the facts.
She says that the system “appears to be verging on chaos”. In my mind it is in chaos but she is a politician and can’t be seen as to be too extreme (in any case, she is also Wildrosie and if she wants to be the next Premier, she has to be very bland from this point on and never say anything too extreme).
There is that request for the inquiry that the Hancock –like a broken record says–nope to.
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Oral Question Period
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Highwood. Your first main
set of questions.
Deaths of Children in Care
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, the public can have confidence
because they have an independent officer of the Legislature called
the Child and Youth Advocate, who has access to all the
information, has the ability to call a review, has the powers of a
commissioner under the Public Inquiries Act, as well as a fatality
review board, which has an obligation to review all deaths and in
appropriate circumstances call for a fatality review.
**********************************************************
Well actually Mr. Hancock we have no confidence at all in the work of Human Services at this point.
I mean I had very little belief in the Tories based on all the money pits I have been investigating which appear all over Alberta like sad histories of our pioneers.
But now that I know that they deliberately kept the stories of the little children in their box of horrors–there is zero confidence in these folks and I pity any child in their care.
The only thing that might restore me to some belief is a full public inquiry with police involved.
And when the folks who did the dirty are discovered, then they should be sent to jail.
Ms. Smith is far less blood thirsty than this mummy:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Oral Question Period
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Highwood. Your first main
set of questions.
Deaths of Children in Care
The Speaker: The hon. leader. Second main set of questions.
Ms Smith: The government’s failure to disclose an accurate
number of child deaths for those in government care raises the
suspicion that the government is trying to avoid public scrutiny on
this issue. While the minister claims that the result of all reviews
are made public, the fact remains that there are many deaths for
which we have no specific information. Will the Premier call a
full public review on the issue of deaths of children in care?
*****************************************************
Ms. Smith has learned from the Hancock guy that the only way to stay upright on this icy surface is to act like he is–which is like a repeating motif on the bum of fleeing gazelle. Except she is the repeating lioness running after the gazelle. A very old gazelle.
I have to believe that she is accurate when she indicates to the Hancock that we have our suspicions and the secrecy and lies do not encourage us to believe the Tories: The government’s failure to disclose an accurate number of child deaths for those in government care raises the
suspicion that the government is trying to avoid public scrutiny on
this issue.
Hancock does his broken record bit again.
This is where being a lawyer comes in useful.
He uses the script that he learned 16 years ago to good effect today when lies and secrecy are in great demand in the house of corruption:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Oral Question Period
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Highwood. Your first main
set of questions.
Deaths of Children in Care
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, the death of any child, in care or not,
is a tragic circumstance. Many of us are parents. We know how
much we love our children and how much we care about them and
how much it would hurt if we lost them in any circumstance.
Every single member in this House, I think, cares about children
in care and about children in Alberta. What we want to have is a
system which honours the caregivers, honours the people in the
system who care for those in the most vulnerable circumstances
and an opportunity to review appropriately where tragic circumstances happen.
*************************************
This is the Hancock’s lawyer submission to the jury of the public.
He is sincere.
He bleeds.
He is a parent.
He understands our outrage.
He feels.
But we do not give a damn about this acting.
We are determined to get the answers to our questions–how did the government of Alberta perform with reference to these 145 dead children?
Who is responsible for this genocide?
Why can’t we say their names?
Why are their stories not told?
Who will end the silence?
End the bullshit about honoring folks Mr. Hancock and give us the facts.
The jury is unimpressed with this lawyer’s submission of the great performance of the accused in this case. The government is losing this case badly.
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Province of Alberta
The 28th Legislature
First Session
Alberta Hansard
Wednesday afternoon, November 27, 2013
Issue 74a
The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker
Oral Question Period
The Speaker: The hon. Member for Highwood. Your first main
set of questions.
Deaths of Children in Care
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, in addition to failing to disclose the
accurate number of deaths of children in care, the government has
also drastically reduced the number of special case reviews it has
conducted over the past 10 years, stopping them altogether in
2009. The government’s claim that it is fully investigating all
child deaths, when it has halted special case reviews, is simply not
credible. To the Premier: will she agree to call a full inquiry on the
issue of deaths of children in care?
***********************************************
If there is another woman who could be as persistent as I am —then it might be Ms. Smith.
She is remarkably cool at the broken record refrain–inquiry, inquiry, inquiry.
I will imitate her as well in every single post I write about the child deaths in foster care—-inquiry, inquiry, inquiry.
Undeterred by the crocodile tears leaked by the crocodile Minister of Human Services–my MLA–Mr. Hancock, she carefully points out to the fakers that the Tories have:
1) decreased the special case reviews they have done on dead kids
2) finally they stopped doing these reviews in 2009 possibly realizing that these investigations provide a fund of data for future litigation cases and
3) repeated the requirement of Albertans for a full public inquiry into the secrets and lies that seem to constitute the work of the Tories in every area of governance that I have looked into.
Who knew that the folks we trusted were such spin masters?
Who knew that they were absolutely not interested in doing their jobs?
Who knew that they would be negligent not only with our most disadvantaged, powerless babies but with rural Albertans–landowners with clout?
Everyone is dog meat for these wolves.
What does the MLA for Riverbend mummies have to say?
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, in the first year that I became
Minister of Human Services I was mandated by the Premier to put
children first and to make sure that we deal with children in this
province in an appropriate way. We published the numbers, all of
the numbers, of children who died in care. But previously the
numbers that were not published were those of children who were
determined to have died under natural circumstances or where
there was not a questionable circumstance around their death. So
that is the situation in Alberta. We’re always looking to do things
better. We’ll have a round-table. We’ll bring people together to
talk about what information . . .
************************************************
So when did the guy become Human Services minister?
Wasn’t that just when the Redford became the Playdoh Lady of the province?
So that would be just recently.
And this crap has been going on for forty years and more.
Shameful.
Utterly shameful.
And I betcha a whole pile of the top dogs in this pack of wolves were fully cognizant of the legal liabilities they were incurring by their failures to act but because they are so damn arrogant, they don’t believe they will be held accountable by their employers.
Sorry.
They were wrong.
They will be held accountable.
We are no longer ignorant.
We know.
What does Ms. Smith have to say about the recent turnaround by the Tory traitors? What does she have to say about the dumb excuse the Hancock gives for not telling us about the deaths of children in care–that they just dropped dead like flies over a bowl of sugar water and there were no fly swatters involved?
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
But previously the
numbers that were not published were those of children who were
determined to have died under natural circumstances or where
there was not a questionable circumstance around their death.
**************************************************
In my mind this is an unacceptable situation.
There should be an inquiry into the death of every child.
How does a kid die under natural circumstances?
Usually there is a reason for a death and we need to collect this data to ensure that there isn’t a pattern of “natural deaths” that aren’t in fact naturally caused but could be due to other problems such as a failure to recognize illness in the child by a caregiver.
A surprising aspect to this entire mess is that we do not have any inquiry into the role of caregivers in the deaths of these children.
Why are the caregivers exempt from investigation by the police?
If there were kids dying like flies in this way—-in their family of origin you betcha believe that they would have the stay at home mummies in court faster than you can say dirty Tory politics.
An inquiry into every child death in Alberta is essential and should be done by the police.
I don’t believe the child and youth advocate will do more than repeat the words of the oil monarchs to us in sanitized inquiries that he doles out twice a year.
A police generated database of information would help show the failures in government and it would hopefully lead to charges against both government employees and caretakers who are negligent.
This database of information that will also show us patterns in the killing off of kids in both the foster care and non-foster care systems.
In other words, information is gold.
And in the case of the foster care system, the government would prefer–in my mind–not to give this gold to citizens.
So no sort of investigation is now done except in a few cases where it seems the kids kill themselves and so the liability is shifted over to the kid.
Wow.
It’s a sad state of government in Alberta.
The gold of the information and the continuous improvements that could occur do not occur; as well the liability problems get buried with each child death.
Ms. Smith then goes on to ask the government, what does it do then if it no longer does the special case reviews?
This is a good question.
In my mind –I can see the group at Human Services in a roundtable conference.
The Hancock guy is waiting to hear the bad news of yet another child kicking the bucket.
The underlings quiver with the tension of it all.
They all yap.
Then they shuffle paper.
Then they forget the whole bad story.
It’s like a dream or a nightmare.
They don’t want any record of it because this could be accessed by nosy reporters and stay at home mummies investigating the government.
So they look at the floor.
The assistant deputy minister tells us —they “don’t necessarily create reports”.
It’s good to know that we pay all these ministers, deputy ministers, assistant deputy ministers to yap around a table and not keep minutes of meetings because heck, this would provide fuel for future litigation fires.
Wow.
They cover up the deaths.
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
The Speaker: The hon. leader. Second supplemental.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, when asked by the media about the lack
of special case reviews, the assistant deputy minister responsible
for human services said, ”There might be some conversations
between the statutory director and their staff. . . but we don’t
necessarily create reports. . . Some of it might be meetings; there
may not be minutes.” Unwritten recommendations, no minutes,
and informal processes: shocking. Will the Premier agree to call a
full public inquiry on the issue of deaths of children in care?
**************************************************************
Ms. Smith, is quite right to say that this type of performance by the Human Services department is actually very illegal.
Every meeting needs minutes.
Every discussion of a child death needs a summary statement.
Every child death needs to have an inquiry by the police.
This entire sequence of department activities shriek –cover up!
But of course, this government is entirely all about cover-up, lies and poor performance. You only need to look at their failures in rural Alberta which I will write about so that you see why rural Alberta went Wildrosie and why the rest of Alberta will follow ASAP in the next election.
The Tories have had no interest in representing families at all.
Their only interest has been in hanging onto power and they have done this well by servicing the needs of CAPP.
In the case of the foster kids, the lack of written notes indicates to this mummy that the ongoing litigation against the Tories, made it clear to them that it was in their best interests to write nothing down that could be used against them at a later date. Only problem now is that who has the official story? Is it the Redford? Is it the Hancock? Where is the Synergy story plot line for the foster kids death drama?
I’m betting they are making up this story as they usually do –from day to day.
Here is Mr. Hancock repeating his only defense–that since everything is fine, they don’t need to do their jobs as public servants and write down their notes of meetings. Nor do they have to have inquiries because everything is fine–because he is in charge–well he was in charge until he begged to get out of hell.
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_28/session_1/20131127_1330_01_han.pdf
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, one thing I can assure this House and
one thing I can assure the Alberta public is that the people who
work in the Department of Human Services and the people who
work in the system in agencies who help children care about their
children. Every serious incident and death is investigated and
learned from. The learnings are shared in an appropriate way
within the department. You can call it a special review, or you can
call it something else. The work is done and it’s shared and it’s
implemented. Every time an incident like that happens, we learn
from it, and we improve.
***********************************************************************
Well actually I don’t see any improvement in the performance of this department no matter how many minister changes there has been made.
The problem isn’t in the department.
The problem is in the Tory party itself.
They see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil about themselves.
I doubt very much that there will be any improvements from the deaths of these children.
I mean how can there be?
There are no records.
What was learned at the meetings where nothing was recorded?
How did they transmit learnings to each worker?
How are they evolving without data from such face to face chatter?
We don’t know do we?
We have no historical records since they ended the special case reviews in 2009. I am betting this is when there was yet another lawsuit against the government of Alberta.
Let me go check when the most recent lawsuit against the Tories was initiated in Alberta.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/children-in-provincial-care-sue-alberta-government-1.1133564
Children in provincial care sue Alberta government
Woman abused by murderer Thomas Svekla part of class action lawsuit
CBC News Posted: Mar 26, 2012 12:28 PM MT Last Updated: Mar 27, 2012 6:50 AM MT
Related Stories
Victim in Svekla child sex assault files suit
External Links
Read the Notice of Certification
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)
A massive lawsuit claiming the Alberta government failed to take legal action or seek compensation on behalf of children in its care is moving towards trial.
The suit claims the province failed to apply for victims-of-crime compensation or file personal injury claims for children abused prior to or while in the care of Alberta Child Welfare.
A very preliminary estimate of the unresolved claims has been set as high as $890 million.
‘They didn’t protect me. So while they’re protecting themselves now, they should have protected me.’—Svekla abuse victim
The suit includes children who were placed in provincial care from July 1, 1966 to Feb. 19, 2008.
“They didn’t protect me,” said one woman who spoke to CBC News, but cannot be named. “So while they’re protecting themselves now, they should have protected me.”
The woman was sexually abused by her foster-mother’s boyfriend, Thomas Svekla, who’s now a convicted murderer, when she was five-years-old.
“It hurts,” she said. “It hurts that it’s my government that’s not doing anything for me and really not caring.”
The woman is now suing Svekla, her former foster mother and the Province of Alberta for $2.5 million in a separate suit.
The province was the woman’s legal guardian and should have taken legal action for her, said Edmonton lawyer Robert Lee.
Pure negligence, says lawyer
“They should have applied for crimes compensation for her,” he said. “At a minimum they should have told her grandmother that that needed to be done.”
“They didn’t do any of those things,” he said. “Pure negligence; pure incompetence.”
Lee believes more than half of all children in care over the last five decades are in the same boat and are eligible to join the class action lawsuit.
Lawyers in Calgary and Edmonton are urging victims to come forward.
“There’s been advertisements in the papers now,” said Lee. “That’s for people to be aware of the class action for this failure to sue for these kids.”
All children who suffered personal injury while in provincial care are automatically included in the lawsuit and must ask to be left out if they do not want to be part of the lawsuit.
“If they don’t want to be in the class action, if they don’t want to be part of any lawsuit, they can opt out.”
The government won’t comment while the case is before the courts, where it’s expected to be for a number of years yet.
“We just have to keep fighting for something that we know is right,” said the woman abused by her mother’s boyfriend. “And just keep doing it no matter how long it’s taking.”
“We just have to keep fighting for something we know we should win and hopefully we will.”
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http://www.victimsrightslaw.ca/images/Notice_of_Certification_Feb2012.pdf
ALBERTA CHILD WELFARE CLASS ACTION
This notice may affect your rights. Please read it carefully.
What is the Class Action about?
A lawsuit has been certified as a class action against the child welfare
branch of the Alberta Government and the Alberta Public Trustee.
The lawsuit alleges that the Defendants had a responsibility to pursue
criminal injuries compensation and personal injury claims for children
under their care but that they failed to do so. The representative
plaintiffs are Jane Doe 1, Jane Doe 2, and John Doe 1. In this lawsuit,
they are seeking damages on their own behalf and on behalf of a class
of persons who are or were in the custody of Child Welfare and whose
legal rights were not protected.
How do I know if I am a member of the Class?
The Representative plaintiffs represent a certified class which is
defined as:
All persons who, while resident in Alberta, suffered personal
injury while a minor as a result of a tort by a third party, and
between July 1, 1966 and February 19, 2008, were in the actual
custody of the Child Welfare:
(i) as a permanent ward,
(ii) under a Permanent or Temporary Guardianship
Order, or
(iii) under a Permanent Guardianship Agreement.
and for whom the Defendants did not make a claim under the
Criminal Injuries Compensation Act, R.S.A. 1980, c. C-33 or the
Victims of Crime Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. V-3, or commence a civil
action to obtain compensation on their behalf.
What do I do to participate in the Class Action?
If you meet the criteria in the Class definition set out above, you are
automatically included and do not need to do anything. However, it is
recommended that you contact Class Counsel so that you can be put
on the mailing list for periodic updates on the status of the lawsuit.
Because this lawsuit is subject to a mandatory publication ban, your
identity will be kept confidential if you choose to participate in the
class action by making a claim.
What do I do if I do not want to participate in the Class Action?
If you DO NOT want to participate, you must opt out of this action by
sending a letter with your name, address and reason you do not want
to participate to Klein Lyons (address below) received or postmarked
no later than May 4, 2012. If you do not opt out of the class action,
you will be bound by the judgment of the Court on the common
issues. If you opt out you will take full responsibility for initiating
your own lawsuit against the defendants and for taking all legal steps
necessary to protect your claim.
What happens next in the Class Action?
Class actions proceed in two stages. The first stage is the trial of the
common issues. Common issues are questions that apply to each
Class member’s case and must be answered to show whether the
Defendants should be held liable to the Class. There are 5 common
issues in this case and they are posted on Class Counsels’ websites.
The Court will set a date for the trial of the common issues. The
judgment on the common issues whether favourable or not, will affect
all members of the class who do not opt out.
The representative plaintiffs will give instructions to Class Counsel
during the first stage of the class action. If a class member wishes to
participate in this stage of the class action, the class member may ask
the Court for permission to participate. Each class member has the
right to be separately represented by a lawyer of his or her own choice.
If these common issues are resolved in favour of the Class, the case
will move to the second stage. At the second stage, the Court deals
with the issues that is individual to each class member. The Court will
determine what further steps class members need to take to prove they
are entitled to compensation and in what amount. This stage will
require individual class members to prove that the individual is a
member of the Class and to prove the amount of damages claimed.
There may also be potential third party claims brought at this time
against other individuals and organizations, including guardians.
What does it cost to participate in the Class Action?
As a member of the Class, you will not pay legal fees at the common
issues stage of the class action. Class counsel has entered into
agreements with the representative plaintiffs with respect to legal fees
and disbursements for the resolution of the common issues. The
agreements include a percentage based recovery of fees of 33 ⅓% of
any recovery by class members for damages and interest (after
deducting disbursements) whether by settlement or judgment plus
disbursements, interest on disbursements and taxes. Interest on
disbursements will be calculated at the rate of 10% per annum, not
compounded. The lawyers are not entitled to any fees if the class
members do not receive compensation for the claim. The Court will
review and must approve these agreements before the lawyers are
paid. Class Counsel will not receive payment for their work on the
common issues unless and until the class action is successful or costs
are recovered from the Defendants. If the class loses the case on the
common issues, no Class member, other than the representative
plaintiffs will be liable for costs.
If the Class is successful at trial in proving the common issues, further
proceedings may be necessary for individual class members to prove
their own personal damage claims. Class members may be
responsible for the costs of proving their own individual claims, and
may hire a lawyer of their choice to assist them.
Who are the Lawyers for the Class and how do I find out more
information?
The lawyers for the class are called Class Counsel. Information about
the class action is available on their websites and you can contact
Class Counsel at the addresses and phone numbers below:
Robert P. Lee Professional Corp.
7904 -103 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T6E 6C3
Telephone: (780) 438-4972
Facsimile: (780) 436-7771
Website: www.victimsrightslaw.ca
Docken & Company
900, 800-6th Ave. SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 3G3
Telephone: (403) 269-3612
Facsimile: (403) 269-8246
Website: www.docken.com
Klein Lyons
400 – 1385 West 8th Avenue,
Vancouver, BC V6H 3V9
Telephone: (604) 874-7171
Facsimile: (604) 874-7180
Website: www.kleinlyons.com
**********************************************************************
So the only constant in Alberta is that we will be paying for the incompetence and poor performance of the Tories.
In this lawsuit, we have former foster care kids suing the government of Alberta for the failure of the government to initiate cases on their behalf after they suffered in care.
This is to say these lawsuits are to recover restitution awards for damages that these children suffered.
This lawsuit does not delve into the matters of the government of Alberta’s failures in terms of why these damages happened in the first case.
This is why we need to have an inquiry.
And not into the cases of the dead children but also into the cases of the living kids who suffered injury in the care of the Tories.
I will stop this post there and go on in the next post.
I will start post # 3 from the third main set of questions:
The Speaker: The hon. leader. Third main set of questions.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, following the tragic death of each child
in government care, we have to endeavour to learn what we can
from these sad occurrences. While hard and painful, the lessons
we take from each death can help to prevent future deaths from
occurring. To date internal and historical recommendations from
past reviews are not publicly available. To ensure that all appropriate information is brought to light, will the Premier agree to call
a full public inquiry on the issue of deaths of children in care?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, public fatality review reports are, in
fact, public, and responses to them are often made public. They
certainly have been since I’ve been minister. We respond publicly
to the Child and Youth Advocate’s public recommendations. We
will have a round-table. We will bring together all appropriate
voices to discuss how we can do a better job because all of us
want to do a better job for children in Alberta all the time.
Ms Smith: The problem is, Mr. Speaker, that of the 258 recommendations put forward by experts, we have no idea how many
have actually been implemented. Despite the minister’s assurances
that, quote, a more formal tracking process, unquote, has been put
in place, they have released no specific details on how this process
works. It leads Albertans to believe that the government is not
doing all it can to ensure that all of the recommendations are
implemented. To the Premier: will she agree to call a full public
inquiry on the issue of deaths. . .
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, I can assure this House and Albertans
that we do know the recommendations from every report that’s
been put forward, and we do track that internally. We do understand, and we do know what we’re doing with it. What we’ve
committed to do is to respond to the quality assurance council’s
recommendation that a more formal public tracking process be put
in place. We will be doing that, and we will be doing that right
away.
2:00
Ms Smith: Pressed by the media to explain how his tracking
system would ensure that no recommendation falls through the
cracks, the minister responsible said: I’m confident that we
actually do a pretty good job, I think an excellent job, of learning
from circumstances. However, this government’s refusal to make
public the information surrounding these deaths calls into question
the minister’s claim of excellence. Will the Premier agree to call a
full public inquiry into the issue of deaths of children in care?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, that hon. member may think it calls
into question the excellence that’s happening in the system, but I
can tell you that I have had nothing but letters and phone calls
from people who work in the system, from agencies, from
individuals, from foster parents who are concerned that much of
ildren in government care is nearly three times what official
statistics say. This is a very serious issue, and Albertans need to be
assured that children in government care are being given the
attention they need in every single case. Will the Premier agree
today to launch a full public inquiry?
Ms Redford: Well, Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, as a parent,
as an Albertan any death of any child in this province is an
incredible tragedy. We have to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to protect children, particularly children in care. That
is why our minister has taken the steps that he has in the past two
years since we formed government to ensure that we are publicly
accountable for every issue that comes up, that we have a child
advocate that is independent of the government, that we have a
quality advisory council that includes health care experts from the
Stollery and the University of Calgary to deal with child protection.
We are committed to doing everything we need to do working in
partnership with the opposition to make this situation better for all
children.
Ms Smith: Sounds like everything except a full public inquiry,
Mr. Speaker.
The government claims the large discrepancy between the
official number of deaths and the actual number of deaths is due to
how they account for “natural causes.” However, the media
reports clearly indicate that this does not, in fact, fully explain the
discrepancy between the two sets of numbers. Even with 68 deaths
attributed to natural causes, that still leaves the government unable
to account for 21 deaths of children in their care. A full public
inquiry would provide some clarity on this sad and disturbing issue.
Will the Premier commit today to launch a full public inquiry?
Ms Redford: Well, Mr. Speaker, the work that is done in the
department of children’s services and has been done over many
years by many ministers, including the Member for Calgary-Fish
Creek, has been about ensuring that we protect children. It is very
important that we understand exactly what is going on. That is
why we have an independent child advocate. That is why we have
a quality assurance council. We are committed to ensuring that we
continue to make the system better. That is fundamentally
important. We need to bring people together to talk about this. Our
minister today has offered that we need to do that, and we hope to
work together with everyone to protect all children even better in
the system.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, we’ll take him up on that, but we still
need a full public inquiry. The Member for Calgary-Fish Creek
agrees that we need a full public inquiry as well.
On the issue of natural causes there also appears to be some
confusion about what actually constitutes a natural cause. A news
report today details the tragic story of a baby placed in a bassinette
which was improperly set up. The bassinette collapsed, and the
child was killed. This was initially attributed to a sleep death;
however, prior to 2010 no fatality inquiries were done into sleep
deaths, which raises questions about whether statistics about
natural causes are accurate. Will the Premier commit today to
having a full public inquiry into this matter?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, what the hon. member will know is
that we have a very thorough process which involves the medical
examiner. Every death of a child in care with Human Services is
reported to the medical examiner, and the medical examiner
investigates. We now have a Child and Youth Advocate that is
independent of the Legislature. Every death or serious injury of a
child in care or subject to any programs of the department is
referred to the Child and Youth Advocate, and he has full access
to all the electronic records and full access to all the information
in the department. All deaths of children in care are reported to the
quality assurance council. So there are three ways in which there’s
a complete and thorough review of any death of a child in care.
The Speaker: The hon. leader. Second main set of questions.
Ms Smith: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s not what the Child
and Youth Advocate says in his report, and it also isn’t the case
prior to 2012, which is what we’re asking about.
Many of the deaths which the government characterizes as
being of natural causes might well have been fully preventable.
For years the government did not feel compelled to fully report the
deaths of children in government care. Will the Premier acknowledge that simply defining these deaths as being of natural causes
does not provide Albertans with the assurances that they’re
looking for, and will she call a full public inquiry?
Ms Redford: Mr. Speaker, I became the Justice minister five
years ago. One of the reasons I got into public service and one of
the reasons I decided to run for leader is that I thought we needed
to do a better job of ensuring that we were taking care of kids in
care, and that’s because of the experience that I had before I came
to this House. The work that we have put in place, that this
government has put in place, since we were formed two years ago
– an independent child advocate, children first legislation,
ensuring that caregivers and people involved in the system can
share information, ensuring we have a quality assurance council
and that all deaths are reported – is better than what we have ever
seen before. We are proud of it. We’re going to continue to improve
the system, and we’d like do that with the help of the opposition.
Ms Smith: Better, Mr. Speaker, but still not good enough.
We learned today that a significant number of babies who die
while in care die as a result of unsafe sleeping practices. It appears
that some foster parents are not provided with adequate training
on where and how children in their care should sleep. Furthermore, infant deaths while sleeping are rarely reviewed. Bearing in
mind that the vast majority of Alberta’s foster parents are caring,
compassionate, and dedicated individuals, will the Premier commit
to improving the training foster parents receive on the care of
infants, and will she call a full public inquiry to make sure that all
recommendations have been implemented?
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The hon. member should
know that we have actually followed up on recommendations
from past fatality reviews and from past investigations. One of
those was to do a better job of ensuring that foster parents know
about safe sleeping arrangements, et cetera. An example of what
has happened is what’s called safe sleep. It’s putting reviews into
action. We developed safe babies training for foster parents and
kinship caregivers who care for infants that provides valuable
information about caring for infants and the specialized care
required by babies prenatally exposed to substances. It has been
incorporated into training modules and information for caregivers,
including a chapter on infant sleep, with sections on sleep positions, reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, and
Alberta safe sleep guidelines, and every . . .
The Speaker: Thank you, hon. minister.
Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, this minister has no credibility. Yesterday the minister said in response to a media question that the
number of children who died while in the care of the government
was, quote, not significant, unquote. Well, I’ve already pointed
out that there are at least 21 deaths unaccounted for. Today’s
report reveals that infants in care have a three times higher
mortality rate than those infants who are not in care and 78 per
cent of the children who have died in care since 1999 are
aboriginal. Does the Premier agree with her minister that the
deaths can be characterized as not significant?
Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, this hon. member is a past master at
taking words out of context even when she wasn’t there to hear
the context. She reads the paper and automatically uses the
language in the way that she wants to characterize it. What’s
really true is that every child is important in this province to this
Premier, to this government, and to this minister. Every child is
significant. What we were talking about yesterday was with respect
to tracking recommendations from reports. We don’t have that
many reports, and we don’t have that many recommendations. I
can assure the hon. member we know about each and every one of
those recommendations, where they’ve gone, and what we’re
doing about them. We are implementing those recommendations.
We have a very good track record on that.
Ms Smith: I think we’d all prefer to see a full public inquiry to
prove that point, Mr. Speaker.
********************************
Posted by Julie Ali at 2:46 PM
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Labels: Death and Abuse in Foster Care, Mr. Dave Hancock, Ms. Redford, we got spin and no action in Alberta, “We got secrets and lies.” Jessica Ernst