It’s been a year now since the public heard the tragic story of Paige, a 19-year-old woman who died in 2013 of a drug overdose in a washroom adjacent to Oppenheimer Park.
That story was told in detail in a report released in May 2015 by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the Representative for Children and Youth.
As regular readers will know, the provincial government has implemented some measures in an attempt to ensure such a story isn’t told again.
They include the creation of a so-called “rapid response team” to support and monitor troubled young people in the Downtown Eastside and promises of setting up an adolescent services unit and shelter. The government also committed to provide money for organizations to hire more staff and extend their hours.
That’s kind of old news.
What you’re probably more interested in is whether anyone will be held accountable for what happened to Paige, who died after years of abuse, neglect and what Turpel-Lafond said in her report was “persistent inaction from front-line professionals and an indifferent social care system that led to this young woman’s demise.”
Some of you may not be aware the RCMP launched an investigation into the allegations in the report to determine why – in multiple instances – police, health officials, social services workers and others failed to report that Paige [whose surname was not released] needed protection under the Child, Family and Community Service Act.
As Turpel-Lafond told me in September 2015, in the last three years of Paige’s life, there were literally hundreds of incidents where people should have reported there was a child in need of protection and didn’t.
Turpel-Lafond told me this week that her understanding is the RCMP completed its investigation and forwarded a report to Crown counsel.
I checked with the RCMP and the Crown to get more detail. Their answers came via email. This from Cpl. Janelle Shoihet, an RCMP media relations officer: “There is no update at this time.” And this from Dan McLaughlin, spokesperson for the Criminal Justice Branch: “We generally do not comment on, or confirm whether we have received a report until we have completed the charge assessment process. We have nothing to report at this time.”
If a person or persons is charged and convicted under the Act, it could result in a fine of up to $10,000 and six months in prison. If there is no prosecution, then what?
Keep in mind while all this is going on that, by the government’s own estimates, there are about 50 vulnerable children and young people living in “high-risk situations” in the Downtown Eastside; Turpel-Lafond believes it’s closer to 200.
While the public waits for some news on the investigation, Turpel-Lafond said the Crown’s decision on whether to approve charges will ultimately answer what value is placed on the care of troubled children in this province.
“This decision about whether or not child welfare is meaningful or not is one of the most important decisions British Columbia will face,” she said, noting the system will be “turned on its ear” if the investigation leads to a prosecution. “What we have right now is a system based on, ‘Let’s just pretend we’re not seeing what we’re seeing and let’s just pretend it’s OK to do nothing about it.’”
mhowell@vancourier.com
@Howellings
