Premier Christy Clark has announced that an independent review will be conducted following a B.C. Supreme Court decision regarding the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development’s lack of response in a sexual abuse case involving children.
During a question period in Victoria on Tuesday, the premier said that a review will be conducted by a non-government employee to ensure non-partisan results.
“We want to make sure we structure the review properly, so that we can make sure to get the outcome that families in this province deserve, and part of structuring that review properly means that it needs to be done by someone who isn’t inside the government,” said Clark.
Premier Christy Clark. (Photo Credit: KelownaNow.com.)
Who exactly will be conducting the review has yet to be announced, as the government is currently in the process of determining how the review will be structured.
“This is a terrible tragic case and I also know that social workers do some of the hardest jobs in government, and they work really hard to make the right judgment in very complex cases. This was an incredibly complex case, but we have a duty to make sure that we really frame up the discussion around it properly to make sure we get answers that will help us do better, and that help us shed some more light on exactly what happened here,” added Clark. “Having worked in that ministry, I can tell you that social workers work incredibly hard in very complex circumstances, trying to balance a whole range of information and trying to do the right thing.”
On Tuesday, July 14th, the B.C. Supreme Court Judge found that the Ministry abused its power regarding a sexual abuse case.
The 341-page report released by Justice Paul Walker details the negligence of agents who failed to assess and investigate reports of sexual abuse.
The case involved three children who claimed that they were sexually assaulted by their father. These claims continued for several years and the ministry still failed to intervene, suggesting that the allegations were fabricated.
Following the report, the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development announced that a review will be commissioned.
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