RCMP officers in 91原创 have begun an unprecedented scrutiny of health-care facilities in the Lower Mainland. The investigation follows a report by B.C.鈥檚 representative for children and youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.
At issue is Turpel-Lafond鈥檚 finding that hospitals and detox centres failed to report abuse suffered by a young aboriginal woman, called Paige in the report. Child-protection legislation makes that a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and/or six months in jail. While the statute has been around for years, this is the first time charges have been contemplated.
The circumstances leading to Paige鈥檚 death are not in dispute. From her earliest days until the end, she led a desperately sad existence. Her mother was an exploitive, dysfunctional drug addict. As young as two, the little girl told a daycare worker she was 鈥渨orried about Mommy.鈥�
From there, she spiralled rapidly downward into a life of addiction, sexual abuse and homelessness. In her last four years, she was shuttled through 50 different shelters, foster homes and seedy hotels in 91原创鈥檚 Downtown Eastside. The Victorian poorhouse would have offered a better future.
In 2013, the young woman, described by her teachers as bright and charming, died of an overdose. She was just 19.
The crux of the RCMP investigation appears to be this: Paige was seen numerous times by hospital emergency staff and detox workers. While some of these treatments were reported to the Ministry of Children and Family Services, there might also have been some that were not. If that is the case, this is a serious matter, and all the more so given the tragic outcome.
The RCMP will determine the facts of the case. But in the event there were gaps in the reporting procedure, what happens next concerns us all.
Context played a part here. Turpel-Lafond鈥檚 report bears witness to the often harried conditions in downtown ERs and detox facilities. Do we want to criminalize administrative failures by staff already at the limits of professional endurance?
There is also the question of what might, for lack of a better term, be called a sense of resignation. Turpel-Lafond describes the feeling of hopelessness among many caregivers in the Downtown Eastside.
Essentially, they lack confidence that any report they make will produce meaningful results. They are swamped with teenagers like Paige.
Here, perhaps, is the deeper issue. Health professionals certainly should be obliged to warn the ministry when they see a child in danger.
Nevertheless, failing to meet this requirement should be a police matter only if resources are in place to enable proper compliance. Are those resources in place?
Arguably, they are not. Over the past four years, the provincial budget for child-safety programs basically flat-lined. In 2011, $499 million was available; in 2015, $502 million.
Compare this with workload. Figures for that precise time period are not available. But between 2007 and 2013, the number of preventive interventions carried out by the Children鈥檚 Ministry increased more than 20-fold.
This doesn鈥檛 mean caregivers can ignore their duties. And by and large, they do not. Over the past 12 months, health-care professionals reported more than 6,000 cases of suspected child abuse provincewide. Doctors can be disciplined by the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons if they fail to report a case of child abuse.
But it does mean there is a shared responsibility here. And the main burden of that duty shouldn鈥檛 rest with overworked physicians, nurses, detox workers or government employees. It rests with the provincial cabinet, which is asking staff to make bricks without straw.
There should indeed be an accounting for Paige鈥檚 death. But let that accounting fall where it belongs.
