B.C.’s ‘massive error’ part of web of inaction that could have saved boy: advocate

An 11-year-old Indigenous boy who died after being tortured by the extended family members approved to be his caregivers was failed in a myriad of ways, a report by British Columbia’s representative for children and youth shows.

The boy’s death is not an outlier, Jennifer Charlesworth said in her latest report released Tuesday, but rather an example of ways the child welfare system has let down children and families in B.C. and across Canada, despite decades of reports making hundreds of recommendations for change.

“And yet here we are again — reviewing the death of an innocent young child and asking the same questions that have been asked for years: How did the systems that are intended to help children and families in this province let this boy and his family down so badly? What will it take for us not to return to this very place in another few years?”

Charlesworth said the boy, who was given the pseudonym Colby in her report, had complex medical needs and was one of three siblings placed with their mother’s cousin and her partner.

The man and woman were convicted of manslaughter for his death and of aggravated assault for the abuse of one of his siblings last year. They were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“In Colby’s story, there was no one thing or one person who could be held wholly responsible. Instead, we see a web of actions and inactions and dozens of missed opportunities across an entire system,” the report says.

The placement was approved by both B.C.’s Ministry of Children and Family Development and the family service’s department of the boy’s First Nation, but the report says the ministry did not complete background checks or visit the home before the siblings were moved there.

Charlesworth said the lack of communication, due diligence and process would “prove to be a massive error” because those in charge of the boy’s safety could have learned the woman had prior involvement with the ministry over physical abuse of her child and there were documented concerns about her partner’s “conduct with children.”

The report says the abuse and torture Colby and his sister experienced was enabled isolation.

“They had little to no contact with anybody outside of the home during the final months of the boy’s life. Colby’s (provincial) social worker didn’t see him in-person during the final seven months despite a ministry policy requirement that children in care should be seen every 90 days,” it says.

“There is no record of the (First Nation) department ever visiting the family or children.”

The report describes Colby’s health-care team placing urgent requests with the ministry and the cousin asking to see him, and teachers raising red flags when the children stopped coming to school in the months leading up to Colby’s death.

A summary of Charlesworth’s report avoids going into specifics about how the children were abused but says what they suffered was “strikingly similar in nature to the horrors inflicted on many Indigenous children who attended residential schools.”

The boy, who is described as having bright eyes and a love of Archie comics and monster trucks, was in a system that was not built to deal with complex and multi-faceted situations, Charlesworth told a news conference following the report’s release.

“It wasn’t built with an anticipation of the toxic drug crisis that we’re dealing with, the housing crisis, the income security, all of the things that are going on right now. So, we have a system that was designed for a very different time,” she said

The report makes a series of recommendations, including that assessments done on potential caregivers be reviewed, that there be dedicated supports for extended family members involved in kinship care and that public bodies which have previously received recommendations from her office revise their timelines.

The report highlights the need for clarity around the roles and responsibilities of the ministry and First Nations working to take over jurisdiction for their child welfare system.

Charlesworth said the provincial government should establish a “Child well-being Strategy and Action Plan” and address “the pervasive silencing, secrecy, diminishment, acceptance and concealment of intimate partner violence and family violence in society and within child and youth serving systems.”

She said data should be collected so outcomes related to a child’s well-being are being measured and reported.

At an event to mark the report’s release Children’s Minister Grace Lore promised “a new vision for child welfare in this province” that prioritizes child and family well-being.

“As minister, and on behalf of the provincial government, I want to apologize, because it is clear Colby and his family were failed,” she said.

“There are many lessons to learn from Colby’s story to help us improve how we support children like him and families like his. And we must learn these lessons. Because it could have been different.”

Lore’s department has promised a cross-ministry group of senior public officials will guide the development of the new direction throughout the fall and map out new strategies focused on outcomes across government for children and families.

Lore told reporters she is committed to action.

“That looks like the work we need to do with our systems to have real-time data and reporting on visitation and criminal record checks. But it also, as the representative outlined, is fundamentally about calling us to reimagine how we support kids and families,” she said.

“And that work can’t wait either. So, we are committed to a new vision.”

BC Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee said in a statement that the boy’s death was entirely preventable and “highlights a profound failure in our collective responsibility to provide connected and holistic care.”

“The experiences of Colby and the other Indigenous and non-Indigenous children examined in this report must serve as a catalyst for real and immediate change,” Teegee said.

“British Columbia and all relevant agencies must urgently implement the report’s recommendations to ensure that no more children or families suffer from the lack of timely and appropriate support. This is a stark call to action for all of us to prioritize the well-being of our most vulnerable community members.”

Charlesworth said she is feeling confident that these latest recommendations will be followed through on, in part because the report comes after conversations with the ministry, public bodies and thousands of people.

“The whole system was in the room. We had community sector, we had Indigenous leaders, we had Indigenous-serving organizations, we had mental health, justice, education. So, when you’ve got that kind of collective commitment, then it’s very hard to turn back,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2024.

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press