Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, B.C.鈥檚 representative for children and youth, pitched an idea this week.
And when Turpel-Lafond pitches something, it鈥檚 a fastball down the middle of the plate.
After six years as the independent advocate for children who come in contact with the government鈥檚 care system, she speaks with considerable authority. She鈥檚 won a lot more battles than she鈥檚 lost with the provincial government, mostly because of the determination that was on full display at a talk she gave Monday at the University of Victoria鈥檚 Congress.
鈥淭wo really good skills I learned from surviving [a] difficult childhood is that you can function on your reptilian brain. In a highly aggressive gunfight you can go to the death, and you don鈥檛 really care. 鈥� It鈥檚 not the best thing, it鈥檚 not good for your stress. But if politicians want to fight, I will fight.
鈥淵ou want to fight over a [small] program for a kid because all your money is going to be invested in something else, I will fight with you and we will have that debate about why this is the best investment and we will get ugly if we have to get ugly.鈥�
The other thing she learned is that 鈥渋f you do not get out and speak for people 鈥� you will be silenced in your own life experience.鈥�
Her central message to a few hundred academics 鈥� and to society at large 鈥� was a challenge to get out of their routines and actually talk 鈥� and listen 鈥� to children.
鈥淚t really motivates me to think of how you get behind children and youth. How do we listen to them, understand the pathways to marginalization, how do we engage and relate to them in a meaningful way, child by child?
鈥淎 lot of academic disciplines produce people who lose that ability to get behind people. You talk yourself out of doing something because the problems are so structural, so complex, or we become obsessed with our 鈥� positioning about issues.鈥�
Her office has dealt with about 10,000 cases, many of them wretched stories of children being grotesquely betrayed by adults. She gave an example of what getting behind the kids and helping them means.
One case involved a young woman virtually living on the street, after years of physical and sexual abuse and numerous stints in different foster homes.
She was brilliantly intelligent. Turpel-Lafond determined that she had to go to university.
But how does she find her way to the school counsellor who is too busy to see her, and through the lengthy application process? Particularly when she鈥檚 overwhelmed at the thought of how she鈥檇 get by without her dog?
鈥淭he dimensions of what people encounter are just so overwhelming to them,鈥� said Turpel-Lafond.
The representative went off the books. She called a big B.C. company (Coast Capital Credit Union) and urged them to make a bet on the woman.
鈥淭hey said: 鈥榃e鈥檒l make it happen.鈥欌��
They鈥檙e funding her university career. It鈥檚 going well.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 really put stories like that in my annual report,鈥� said Turpel-Lafond. 鈥淚t鈥檚 me shaking people down for things they probably don鈥檛 want to give up.鈥�
But it brings up the idea she advanced: Free tuition for children in the care of the government. Tuition waivers for all foster kids, group-home residents and all those who are the legal responsibility of the government. (The University of Winnipeg offered 10 spots on that basis for the first time last year.)
鈥淕o back to your board of governors and do it,鈥� she told the audience. 鈥淚鈥檒l talk to your presidents. Is it complicated? Of course it鈥檚 not complicated. If they tell you it鈥檚 complicated, call me. I will give you the dummy鈥檚 guide on how to do it.鈥�
She acknowledged it wouldn鈥檛 solve everything. The take-up rate would likely be modest.
The concept of university is utterly foreign to much of her clientele. They just can鈥檛 see themselves on that path.
But she pictured telling six-year-old aboriginal foster children in northern B.C. that their future could include going to university, and showing them posters of children who did just that.
It would be a concrete way to reach out and get behind children who desperately need someone to reach out to them.
鈥淚t could be done and I say: 鈥榃hy not?鈥� 鈥�
