Inquest urges B.C. to bring back children's commission

An inquest into a toddler's death has recommended that B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell reinstate the office of the children's commissioner, which his government abolished in 2002.

The coroner's jury issued the recommendation and 18 others shortly before midnight Friday in Port Alberni after a 10-day inquest into the death of Sherry Charlie.

The 19-month-old was beaten to death in September 2002 by a great uncle at his home in Port Alberni, about 140 kilometres northwest of Victoria.

She had been placed into Ryan George's home less than a month earlier by an aboriginal child agency called Usma, which was working with the provincial Ministry of Children and Family Development.

The minister of children and family development, Stan Hagen, said on Saturday that he had read the inquest's recommendations. But he said he wasn't going to decide what actions to take until he receives several other reports into the Charlie case, which he expects by June.

"It is important to note that we have made a lot of changes in practice in the ministry over the last four years,."

'The system is in chaos'

Adrian Dix, the provincial NDP critic for the ministry, accused the government of trying to ignore the inquest recommendations. He said the ministry is still underfunded and unable to meet its own minimum standards for investigating every complaint of child abuse in British Columbia.

"The system is in chaos and Gordon Campbell caused that chaos," Dix said. "It is time for him to respond and to live up to his responsibilities as premier."

The case received widespread notoriety after a government review released in 2005 found numerous problems. It concluded that Sherry was placed in the home even though neither the provincial ministry nor the aboriginal agency had completed all the proper criminal and family checks on his home.

Testimony at the inquest during the past two weeks revealed that family members knew that George had a prior criminal record for violence. But they never told the social workers.

Testimony also indicated that the social workers hadn't conducted a proper investigation.

George, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, testified last week that he never should have been allowed to look after children.

On Friday night, one of the former social workers, Francis Frank, lashed out at George.

"If there's any truth to your statement that no child should ever have been placed in your care, then why in God's name didn't you say anything?"

Criminal record checks urged before any children placed in homes

The inquest's 19 recommendations were directed to the director of the Child Family and Community Services Act (which governs child protection in British Columbia), Usma, the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council, the RCMP, the B.C. Coroner's Service and the West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni.

There was plenty of blame to go around but the jury's recommendations addressed some system failures, notably that:

• Campbell's government reinstate the office of the Children's Commission, which independently reviewed all child deaths in the province. It was cut in 2002 after the government concluded that it duplicated services being offered by other bodies.
• Social workers must complete criminal record checks before placing a child in any home.
• The B.C. government must provide the same training to all social workers. (Testimony revealed the Usma social workers were not given the same training and guidelines as provincial social workers.)