June 10, 2015
Province Introduces Legislation That Would Strengthen Office of the Children's Advocate
– – –New Act Would Increase Independence of OCA, Transparency of Child Welfare System: Minister Irvin-Ross
The Manitoba government is introducing legislation that would be the first step in implementing the recommendations of the Hughes commission to strengthen the Office of the Children’s Advocate, to make it more independent and increase transparency of the child welfare system, Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross announced today.
“The government of Manitoba is committed to strengthening the powers and independence of the children’s advocate,” Minister Irvin-Ross said. “This proposed new act would help to strengthen the Office of the Children’s Advocate and would lay the foundation for expanding the office’s mandate, as recommended by Commissioner Ted Hughes.”
The proposed legislation would create a stand-alone children's advocate act and increase the transparency of the child welfare system by expanding the office’s ability to report on trends and systemic issues along with recommendations to improve services for children and families in Manitoba, Minister Irvin-Ross said.
The new act would give the office greater authority to publically share reports that include non-identifying information on individual cases, as well as identifying information with the consent of the parties involved and in instances when the child’s name and identifying information has already been made public, the minister noted.
The proposed legislation would require the government to hold consultations with Indigenous leaders, the Manitoba Ombudsman, the chief medical examiner, other provincial departments and stakeholders no later than six months after the act comes into force, to formulate next steps required to further strengthen the office, the minister said.
In addition, the legislation would require that a report be tabled in the legislature no later than 15 months after the act is passed on a plan to implement the remaining recommendations to strengthen and expand the mandate of the Office of the Children’s Advocate, the minister said.
“We are pleased this new mandate would emphasize the independence of our office by providing us with stand-alone legislation and we are ready to work with the government to ensure the outstanding recommendations to strengthen our mandate are addressed in the next phase of legislative changes,” said Darlene MacDonald, Manitoba’s children’s advocate.
Key aspects of the new act would include:
- creating stand-alone legislation for the Office of the Children’s Advocate;
- increasing the office’s reporting ability by allowing the children’s advocate to publish reports about reviews and investigations that include non-identifying information on individual cases, as well as identifying information with the consent of the parties involved and in instances where the child's name and identifying information have already been made public;
- ensuring the children's advocate would remain an independent officer of the assembly and the term of office would be extended to five years from three;
- ensuring the best interests of the child remain the paramount consideration for the children’s advocate when fulfilling his or her responsibilities;
- publishing special reports of circumstances and trends related to the child welfare system, to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of child welfare services;
- ensuring individual children and families would not be identified unless the children’s advocate obtains the consent of the parties involved or the child’s name and identifying information has already been made public;
- creating new provisions that would allow the Office of the Children’s Advocate to publish information from the chief medical examiner’s reports in investigations and reports;
- expanding annual reports to include information necessary to establish grounds for recommendations and to specifically report on the work undertaken with Indigenous children and their families; and
- giving the children’s advocate discretion not to investigate or to stop investigating complaints that are frivolous or vexatious, or that do not require investigation, freeing up the office to focus on serious cases and issues.
Minister Irvin-Ross said this would build on previous steps taken to strengthen the Office of the Children’s Advocate including:
- establishing the children’s advocate as an independent legislative officer;
- expanding the powers of the children’s advocate to independently review every death of a child in care or who received services from Manitoba Child and Family Services, or whose parents or guardian received services, in the year prior to their death;
- increasing the budget by 700 per cent and increasing staff to 29 from seven; and
- beginning the process of hiring an Indigenous deputy children’s advocate.
Information on the Hughes commission can be found at www.phoenixsinclairinquiry.ca.
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