Please see the Auditor General's report on CAS:
http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_en/en06/302en06.pdf
Very easy to read and understand... very disturbing!!
Also, I posted an excerpt from my proposal below, please let me know what you think.
Amanda
About Me
- Amanda
- My goal is to have all Children's Aid Societies held accountable for their actions when placing or removing a child. They are responsible for societies most innocent, vulnerable and important citizens and should not forget this when making decisions on children's behalf. They are playing god to these children with absolutely no one to question their actions or motives. It is past time that tax payers, parents, and citizens of Canadian society stand up against the 'Canadian Mofia' and say enough is enough. Thank you for visiting this blog! I welcome all comments, suggestions and news updates! jeffreys_law@hotmail.com
388 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 388 of 388Bed down with the brokers right Minister.
How many pedophiles are CAS shipping children to? How many have they already.
Guess the liars that you are working with convinced you this is not possible?
Take a good close look Minister?
Look at the fruitcakes setting your policies!!!
Look at the men behind the bitches for starters! Forever safe, I don't think so!!!!!!!!!!!
Some dentists are really good people, others are not!
Those that want to pull the teeth out of humanity, and sell children? Are they nice men Minister? Or wolves in sheeps clothing?
Now someetimes people marry into what they cannot see, sometimes they marry the type of man that is what they wanted to run from in the first place.
Sometimes the men are every bit as horrid as what they want to escape. But they don't want to see that.
Sometimes they don't want to see who they have become in the marriage of a dentist, pulling the teeth out of humanity.
They become sometimes very powerful, too powerful really!
Look a little closer, spend time with a dentist. Not all of course, but certains one's. And then run........
People that go to abortion clinics, to beg that a young woman hand over their baby to them, and then announce like a wolf in sheeps clothes that they are becoming "Chinese" after buying a baby?
Take a good close look! Police should look very closely at those behind this new machine. Take a good close investigative look.
Sometimes you know you are right, but you are like David fighting Goliath, and you hope that in messages others do the right thing and look a little closer. Past the veneer of things being said.
If they know for instance a good cop friend.
Sometimes those who have survived CAS, do not be-grudge all dentists, but certains one's they just have a feeling about!
The beast under McGuinty has grown more fangs, and more heads.
If they are not a beast, then why do they fight oversight from the Ombudsman?
Maybe a good man, a formidable force could slay the beast - stones of legal courts, stones of humanity, stones of superb character, stones of calling a spade a spade!
A wonderful force for the people, the best Ombudsman in the history of Ontario.
Vote the hand that fed the beast out on mass.
Sharp teeth they have created here.
Sharp teeth, wolves in sheeps clothes. Is there house made of just straw. Seems to be if they do not want a brick of a force to examine them!
Are these parasites still saying to people that their children are dead then selling them?
How much of a gravy train does CCAS of Toronto still have with New York City?
Small stones are better protected then the beast thinks they are, if they try and go after those who are throwing stones!
Maybe a legal expert might say that it is not a good idea to suggest that we have such a thing as "forever safe, forever families" as it places thousands of children at extreme risk of never being detected as being abused.
It is as absurd as saying all priests are safer as well, just as they are priests. Obviously this is not the case is it.
How can children be protected in a two tiered social system such as this?
It is ridiculous, and very dangerous. It has no legal basis, and it has no practical basis either.
Combine this with a secret system that has no accountability either and it sets into motion a very dark path ahead. Enough to keep one awake at night.
Because if one was to research the outcome of the previous experiments they would be reaching the same conclusion as many others have. The verdict would be in finally in that all of this is totally insane.
You cannot micro manage a thousands lives, you cannot send children into the homes of thousands of strangers based on homestudies and announce that all these people are safe. You can go beyond the lens of illusions though and actually educate people. For starters in making an educational campaign alleging that people are forever safe illegal.
A lot of people would get more sleep at night if they knew a boulder like force had the ability to oversee CAS. The man may not be a super human, and has enough intelligence to know we don't have such a thing either. He seems to have an Einstein incredible gift for weeding rot of various kinds out.
And children do not deserve to be protected by rot either.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to question how an agency that had an involvement with people for 36 years did not check files enough to know two people were convicts.
All they had to do was to look up "K" in the filing system that they have. K is for Kidman, K is for killer isn't it.
Beasts never count on their victims surviving either. They never count on the fear being overcome, and they never count on small stones trying to speak out about them either.
Beasts are always arrogant.
What are the victims saying here CAS? That your system sucks, that it always has. It was not pleasant to be in the care of rapists and pedophiles.
What lesson have you learned CAS? Nothing, as you want to re-orchestrate another wicked witch hunt all over again.
How many pedophiles are you people giving children to these days CAS? How many have you given children to in the past?
Too many to count, for anyone trying to figure out the numbers.
And no do not expect to be forgiven, as one that has no remorse cannot be forgiven.
It was such a wonderful experiment that you people want to do it all over again. Forever safe, forever families?
I don't think so!
If it was all so safe, then why try and gag your victims?
And you people would love nothing more then to gag all of us. It is not just the women, it is the men as well, that remember their lovely childhoods under the care of your agencies.
Enough to be damned to see other children suffer they way we have!
And after the carnage of hell that you people have created, you want to have society believe we have forever safe, forever families?
It doesn't really give those who have been in your system faith or even "good faith" at believing anything has ever changed here.
If real research was done into this experiment, the text books would be re-written.
True charity always begins at home CAS, it always has!
And stop trying to pick on Dean at the Sarnia Smoking Gun as well. You people can listen to this man and what happened to him in "care".
Moreover, you people can listen to all of us who have been in your ever glorious care!
Babies being ping ponged around the countryside, ransoms attached to our crown ward heads. Sent to anyone that breathed.
The whole thing has been totally hell, but it was Jeffrey Baldwin that was the very last straw.
Your house of cards is going to fall down if the Ombudsman has oversight isn't it?
It is about time that it did, and that someone who has the wisdom, integrity and passion to change this mess, to have a chance to change it finally.
You people want everyone to think we are all crazy, you are counting on that aren't you?
Just another stab from the beast at pegging off their victims.
Who and what is really crazy here? A system that has not been accountable since the inception, or those who have been in it.
We are a far sight more sane in this mess, then people think.
Dead children cannot speak CAS, but those who have survived can speak out for them!
We are not asking for anarchy, we are not asking for violence, nor do we condone violence either. We don't want road blockades, nor to stop railways, nor to see children hurt, nor to stop protecting them when they need to be protected.
Just a simple measure - the Ombudsman to have oversight. Why does it have to be so difficult.
It is a rational, sane, peaceful, intelligent request isn't it?
To have a rational, peaceful, intelligent man to have oversight of the CAS.
Sometimes we do not have all the answers, and rely on others to help along the way.
As provincial president of the Ontario Command of the Royal Canadian Legion, I have a hard time understanding why the provincial government stubbornly refuses to consider expanding the jurisdiction of the Ontario Ombudsman to include long-term care. You would be hard pressed to find a more vulnerable group of people than those who reside in long-term care facilities and yet they and their caregivers remain deprived of a fair and independent review by an Ombudsman after internal avenues to resolve their concerns have been exhausted. The Intransigence of the Ontario government stands in a sharp contrast to the actions of the federal and Alberta governments, the former announcing an Ombudsman for Veterans only days ago and the latter expanding the mandate of its Ombudsman to include patient concerns in 2006. What will it take to convince this government that Bill 140 in its present form is flawed and that the "Advisor" position contained within the proposed legislation in no way equates to an Ombudsman? With raw food costs of $5.46 per day per resident, inadequate staffing to ensure residents who cannot feed themselves are fed and the reported overuse of anti-psychotic drugs, the Legion thinks that residents in long-term care, their families and those of us who will someday need long- term care ought to be concerned.
Gord Moore, Provincial President
The Royal Canadian Legion, Ontario Command
Rely on good people to weed the rot out, rely on journalists to do the same as well. Good one's that can see past the lens, to ask serious questions.
It is not that people have no empathy for those that cannot have children. Some are the most wonderful, beautiful people they have have ever met. They have kind hearts, wisdom, and are truly gifts to children. They in fact are so beautiful that you would write a homestudy yourself.
Kind, caring, intelligent. That if a child really needed a home you would recommend them.
It is not them that one goes after ever, the good in this mess. It is the beast itself. Good loving, wonderful, incredible people are never the enemy.
The system is the beast itself.
I know one of the best human beings I have met, calling a spade a spade, and do not want their heart to be shot down. It is the beast not you.
So you are not sauce are you, I would approve you in a heartbeat!
It is not you at all, but that babies want to be with their family. Even if you meet the best human being you have met in a long, long time!
You meet such wonderful people that they should have children in spades. Kind, honest, wonderful people. But babies no matter how much you love them, crave their mothers and fathers.
It is not that you are bad at all, but that what they want really is beyond what a good, loving person can give. No fault, just nature.
And sometimes the gay are the very best. It is not to say that they are not, but rather that this is about children, who crave their mothers and fathers in the mess that the CAS has orchestrated.
Vote them out! The Liberals prepared to sell children to the highest bidder!
Auction them off, to anyone that moves, with nutbars in charge.
The most disgusting display in politics. Anyone that moves who is not actually a relative has the right to someone else's child now!
You will be voted out!
We told you to not bed down with the brokers! You are out if baby brokers are who you really support!
Done like a dinner, you liars, and thieves. You cooked your own goose, and did not do your research. We warned you not to bed down with baby brokers from hell. Election time - you people are gone!
You had this all set up didn't you? In all fairness to Minister Chambers she was a sacrifice in this war, and maybe as a human being did not deserve this to bel totally reviled either.
But, regardless Dalton McGutless, you did not rein then in, you gave them more power!
The last thing they need. Did you also give these parasites a raise, and a standing ovation too!
Fund kidnappers more, how wonderful!
Only parasites sell children! How much are you for sale?
You really reined these bastards in didn't you?
Instead you could have put them in a court room, but you swayed away didn't you!
Bedding down with brokers, is never a good political move!
If all is fine with CAS then go to court. It will not happen though will it, as the government has made these bastards "untouchable".
If it was not for Bill 210, and who you are working with it might have worked. A wise man said, never trust a Liberal!
A full public inquiry should have happened in response to Jeffrey Baldwin. Instead the government is having tea and cookies with CAS.
Trusting CAS is like trusting the Talibhan.
It is disgraceful that the government is drugging the vets, and not taking care of them. Nothing should be a surprise. They have given themselves a 27% raise.
That 27% should be going to war vets, those with special needs like autism, and vulnerable children.
Politicians should ask themselves which one of their children they would entrust to the CAS. Which one would they want to be in "care".
I hope the vets vote them out too!
All of the children in the Toronto Star who were featured in the past had familiies, and none needed to be adopted. Their medical information was lied about, their names were altered, and their backgrounds were made from fiction stories as well. All lies.
They still have that column with CAS, and it is a given that these children featured no more need to be in care, then anyone else did before.
They steal from areas across Ontario, and feature kids in Toronto. The kids come from all areas of the Province.
Children's aid takes them because they can, to provide children for their child trafficking business.
None are orphans. Their parents are usually one's that do not have money to fight against the vultures.
The Adoption Resource Exchange is the great auction though. Names are changed, backgrounds are changed, and strangers bid on other people's children.
Any good foster homes that kids are in, they get taken from. CAS wants to keep the foster homes to provide temporary care while they traffic them.
Children are moved for two reasons 1) CAS collects money in the jurisdiction the child is in - if they move them to another area, both agencies get to collect a fee on the head of the child and funding and 2) they move them as they expect the child to bond with the adopters once they are bought by them!
They don't care if they child is moved 9 times in 6 months either. They just funnel them through like cattle for funding.
CAS does not want men to have rights either, as it hampers their business. If men have rights it decreases the numbers.
CAS is so bad Peter Kormos suggested shutting them all down. He may be quite right.
Child abuse charges should be disclosed in open courts, and should be given to detectives that are trained and that specialize in this. Not pinhead social workers with community college, who go on witch hunts because they can.
Almost everything that is written is a lie as well from them.
Innocent parents have no leg to stand on. CAS also loves to lie about the legal times that one can appeal for their child. If they lie about the time it prevents the parents from fighting them.
Parents are all portrayed as being heartless monsters, abusers and abandoners.
The majority of parents who had children taken were never abusive in the first place.
Many are very high ranking people these days.
They are not happy with CAS either. If your child was stolen from them would you like them?
Families who had their children stolen do not like CAS as well as their children were given to child abusers, after they were stolen from them.
Care was being dumped into a strangers home with no home study being done. Many times CAS did not even visit yearly.
Reports of child abuse were virtually ignored.
It has been so fantastic that the Liberals have empowered these agencies to go for another round.
It will be worse then the 60's. A massive witch hunt. It will be ugly, and it will be dark.
After all CAS does not care.
Even if some agencies are trying to keep families together in some cases, the big one's only still want to traffic them.
From Munch to God knows what else, workers who are untrained have the power to take children because they can.
Munch is the new weapon, and the latest disease that parents have. FAS is another distortion. Some kids taken have it, many do not - CAS makes it seem like all kids do though, as it makes society hate their parents.
Inducing hatred of parents is how they stay in power. Convincing society that the kids need to be protected when they do not.
Secrets and lies, a secret system.
Children are not just shipped like cattle all over the Province - CAS sends them to other Provinces and foreign countries too.
Like mail order children in a secret, corrupt system.
CAS is accountable to no one, they are a run away horse totally out of control.
The new review board is nothing but a joke, and a political guise.
If the Ombudsman were to get in power the child trafficking would stop!
This is why they fight against it.
John Tory and Co., or the NDP may win the election over this.
McGuinty has given the witch hunters more power then they have had in decades.
Dave Brown was one of the first journalists to cover the corruption and fraud in CAS, others should follow and expose them more as well.
His reports about them in the Ottawa Citizen were the few and first to expose them.
Many who end up with the kids do not care how they were taken, or why - they just want someone else's child as they are in desperation.
Infertility rises due to the environment. As infertility rises so will child abductions - just watch the numbers grow!
But rather then tackle the environment the Liberals just want to kidnap children for rich, infertile strangers.
Gord Moore - please get the vets to vote the Liberals out. I don't think the vets fought for freedom to have children stolen and sold.
Not only should they be voted out for empowering CAS, but if they are drugging war vets, and not taking care of them especially kick them out! It is disgraceful.
Good men made sacrifices that most cannot imagine, this is the thanks they get - being drugged and left in crap nursing homes.
And they had this all planned from start to finish.
Using the voters as patsies and pawns.
It was when they abducted the autistic that all hell broke out. Parents had enough and hired a law firm and started a class action lawsuit.
The parents were not unfit, and the Ombudsman exposed the lies. If he can do that just with the autistic alone, can you imagine what type of filth and corruption he can uncover if he really gets oversight?
Women are no longer mothers in Bill 210 they are incubators to have their children harvested by CAS. Men are sperm donors.
Everyone is unfit, unless they want to get someone else's child.
Children will be brokered from here to God knows where, all over the globe under the guise of child protection.
Mail order children in the charge and care of baby brokers from hell!
And the people in charge hate every parent out there - unless they are a stranger who wants to get someone else's child.
They love them, they have rolled out the red carpet in a baby broker bonanza!
It is the most disgusting display in Canadian politics.
When men are sperm donors and women incubators. It is putrid, it is corrupt!
Mom and Dad mean nothing in the Province of Ontario!
Only a heartless parasite would sell children.
Why are children for sale? It is not okay to sell adults, but children no problem.
Nice job McGuinty. The fall cannot come some enough to vote you people out!
Sell the brokers to a foreign country for at least 20 grand, maybe the money can go to the war vets!
Before you sell them though - make sure you put them in foster homes with mentally ill pedophiles, and lunatics. People that hold pliers to the genitals of little boys like the Toronto CCAS allowed to happen in foster stranger danger care.
Ship the brokers to foster homes from hell, and see how they like it.
Send them to Iraq, put their ugly faces on the Internet and let the bidding start!
Price these parasites out accordingly!
You want to sell children, sell the brokers too! I think that is only fair!
To the highest bidder they go........
Not only should the brokers be on the auction block, lets roll out the barrel and sell the social workers too!
Maybe the Talibhan can adopt the brokers and the CAS too! They can all live together in forever safe, forever families.
Good soldiers did not fight to have children sold. As was said by a good old vet.
If the hell that children's aid has orchestrated is "aid" one shudders to think what help is to these people.
And your gagged and silent victims that you people pawned off to pedophiles and everything else under the sun are speaking out in droves, the numbers are getting larger and the truth of what you bastards have done is going to be more exposed!
And if you have kids in the "care" of CAS get them out now. You think pedophiles are bad in the church, check out child welfare, and who CAS routinely gives children to.
All across North America victims are speaking out about what you people have done.
Why CAS was just about every single former foster ward abused?
And those forever safe, forever families, nice job. NOT
It wasn't very pleasant for children to be shipped to child abusers in droves was it?
But to you bastards it was, as you want to do it all over again.
Wow you people did such a spectacular job didn't you? Let's go for another round.
There are only so many horror stories of abuse involving CAS that one can hear. Days you want to snap.
But you won't break the strong down, and we had to be strong to survive what you bastards allowed to happen to us.
Strong enough to live to tell about it. None of you ever counted on that did you?
Forever safe, forever families - how about forever putrid and forever corrupt.
Vote MPP's in that want to have the Ombudsman to have oversight of CAS!
The Liberals do not care, CAS is their best friend.
Let's get pinhead social workers with magical crystal balls to give children to strangers, and announce they are "forever safe".
What planet do these brokers live on anyway?
Hell if they could sell children to space aliens for a buck they would!
How can caring for children involve selling them?
People that actually love children do not cherish selling children to the highest bidder.
Britain has made it illegal for good reason!
We should get a magical crystal ball and "match" the brokers to "forever safe, forever families" in Afghanistan.
The list of dead children who were murdered in CAS "care" are forever dead, not forever safe!
Thousands of children being pimped through the system. By lunatics that think we have "forever safe, forever families".
It is not normal for children to be pimped through a series of private foster homes, and bought in the end.
And they call it "children's aid".
Blows your mind, it is insane!
And pimped by brokers that compare children to the price of a car?
Nice eh - how much are you for sale?
A used dodge might be a child that has been abused, or that has special needs. A luxury sedan is the cream of the crop.
It is absolutely disgusting, it is absolutely dispicable.
Children should not be for sale!!!
No child should ever be for sale, children are innocent, children are wonderful, they do not deserve to be bought and sold!
Only mentally ill nutbars think selling children is a good idea.
The sane think it is nuts.
And the sane are most certainly not those in the Liberal government.
Why is that selling adults is called slavery, but selling children is called "adoption"?
Aava.
Sometimes when you know too much, people try and set you up. They have their own reasons. Family ties, politics and their own frauds.
To those fighting for changes, just be careful. They do not want us to talk, and they will try and discredit all of us. Watch your back very carefully, and trust your instinct.
Others become crystal ball seers just like them, as they think they can. They think they know it all, and they do not.
Sometimes things run in families, like having too much power, and trying to run over other people.
But good lawyers will not let that happen either!
CAS needs oversight, and running those over who want this change will not work. It just makes them look more guilty in the end doesn't it?
And other activists might want to let others know that they are not suicidal just in case anyone has any bright ideas.
Look at the child advocate and what they did to her?
Any set-ups will be dealt with and those doing it will be taken to court and charged as well.
People will reach high powered friends for help!
This is not childs play, we want the corruption to end. And very high powered, very good people are reading this by the way!
Media, and good police, not corrupt one's! Good lawyers are too by the way!
If rot investigates those who are not rotten, then bring it to court.
What are you people afraid of? Human errors are one thing, other things are not!
They are going to try to come after small stones trying to slay the beast. They already are.
It won't work, as justice is worth it.
The lesson of soldiers. Vets understand passion, and integrity, they understand love and humanity. After you have been through a war you always understand the hellish lessons taught. Or most people do anyway.
Being through CAS is like being through a war. Sometimes beautiful little boys get killed in the crossfire. And soldiers vow to expose their death.
Because they care! And because good police officers have the same questions.
Brilliant media do as well! The good one's, those that go to fight for children.
K is for Kidman, K is for killer, C is for corruption, P is for protection!
Apples and Oranges, good men and women paying attention.
There is no way in hell that Jeffrey Baldwin was an accident?
And fuck those trying to do something about it right?
Wrong!
A full Royal Commission of Inquiry should happen in regards to this little boy. Not with a corrupt judge either!
And war vets, who have been in a war will also fight for little boys killed in the crossfire of corruption and fraud! Good loving men, who can only look at him and join the battle.
In fact there is an army behind justice for Jeffrey!
If you want to crucify me you fuckers, meet in court! Not with a corrupt judge either!
Children's Aid, is the stew of bitches!
Evil, parasites in ivory towers, judging, and carving.
Crystal ball seers, as they had no power historically, and so they tried to carve other women into pieces. They still do!
But good men and women, see beyond the bitches! They always have!
Sometimes wise, wonderful men, see who is a bitch, and who calls a spade a spade.
Men with huge hearts, and honesty to match. J. C.
Wise, men - that can see!
When you can see beyond the lenses, you are right. Good men and women that call a spade a spade.
Certain people have men who are total sweethearts as friends.
Good and wonderful men, that they cherish, as much as all people do a good friend.
Men are the enemy aren't they Children's Aid?
Women are too - ivory towers, church benches.
A system from hell. Look at who orchestrated it in the first place.
Women did, and sadly good men followed them. They are guilty as well and hugely!
Judgemental strangers can judge, in secret courts, and carve those who do not conform into bits.
It is a recipe of abuse of power, when the government marries the church?
Look at the carnage. The bitches want to defend it, and keep- it going.
Men who dare speak out, are crucified.
It is a system from hell. Both men and women are guilty, and politicians too!
Slay the beast. Never slay children though. Once you have, meet your enemy!
Never harm the babies you fuckers, once you have - all is fair in love and war!
And the fuckers setting me up - you picked the wrong person!
Meet me in court, assholes, and not with a corrupt, putrid judge either!
Corrupt evil judges, get away with it don't they.
Parasites, and pedophiles.
Once you have pedophile judges, it should be no surprise that the rot is deep!
Wicked, evil men. Parasites. In some cases, certainly to all!
Men that look that they swallowed the canary are pedophiles, who have the same look as Elva.
Ugly, parasites!
Good judges, that do not want pedophiles in charge speak out!
Run eh? From what?
You can rot the weed out nicely, when you have been raised with the fuckers.
You do not become like them, but vow to crucify them.
Your blood is not of the same ilk, thank God!
Once in the cavern you can see the fuckers a mile away, you had just to survive. You can still see them to this day!
Plain as day.
And you always have to see to survive!
Rot often starts with the wrong people in power. It has always been this way. But tables can turn!
Corrupt pedophiles are usually men with boatloads of money. Not that being rich is bad. It is not the money. It is the power we bestow upon these fuckers.
But fathers, real one's, breaking their backs, to feed the rich, are unfit?
I don't think so. Some maybe, but not this.
http://dcrally2007.com/
The beast has its head cocked, and it tilts back and forth. It’s large, clumsy feet tripping over itself. Its bloodshot eyes gazing like a deer in the headlights.
It lumbers, unsteady. Puzzled.
It’s large head so big that it cannot hide in the forest as hunters want to shoot it down. Men are marching, women are too.
On Dufferin VOCA is one of the best speeches in modern history, by Minister Ron Smith. Speaking out against the filthy adoption industry, and speaking out for real fathers who have had enough!
Bravo, and march in great numbers!!!!!!!
Other systems are closely following CAS, in one great nanny state, totally about taking away the power of parents.
An industry, where parents are the enemy.
You speak out you are shot down. Arrogant, pinheads in charge.
NEWS
Last updated at 6:28 PM on 18/05/07
The Post has learned the Children's Aid Society intentionally withheld information
The Cape Breton Post
SYDNEY — The Children’s Aid Society of Cape Breton-Victoria has breached the very act it is supposed to uphold by intentionally and deliberately withholding information in a child custody case, a Supreme Court judge has ruled.
In a scathing decision, Justice Theresa Forgeron described the testimony of two agency workers — Marilyn MacNeil and her supervisor John Janega — as incredulous, unconvincing and evasive and both were deemed not to be credible.
“The agency made a decision that the children should be with their father and by their failure to disclose made it impossible for this court to properly assess the best interests of the children,” said Forgeron in her decision which stems from an application by a Cape Breton mother to have her two children returned to her care.
“I find the agency did indeed mislead the court and the mother. It remained silent and provided affidavits and other documents which failed to disclose the true circumstances confronting the children.”
The judge said the agency went to great lengths to ensure negative information concerning its plan would not be reviewed by the court.
Full details in Saturday's Post.
Ex-CAS worker faces 26 new sex charges
The Toronto Star - Tuesday January 13, 1998 By Philip Mascoll, Staff Reporter A former Metro Toronto Children’s Aid Society Worker, charged before Christmas with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old Oshawa boy, faces 26 new sex-related counts following allegations by six more complaints. And a North York man who Durham Region police say was a friend of the youth workers faces sexual assault charges against two Oshawa boys, one a 6-year-old and the other a 13-year-old who was just 6 when the alleged offence occurred. The youth worker was arrested and charged with the 26 offences yesterday by detectives from the force’s sexual assault squad, minutes after he appeared on court on the original charges laid Dec. 11. They have told investigators that they were befriended by a man between 1990 and December last year and that the assaults took place at an Oshawa residence and at an secluded pond near Uxbridge. The Original charges – one of sexual assault, one of making child pornography and one of possession of child pornography – related to a 12-year-old boy who said he was introduced to a man through a family friend last August, police said. Gary Brian Sharrard of Cambridge Court in Oshawa faces seven counts of sexual assault; seven of sexual interference; five of invitation to sexual touching; one of exposing genitals to a person under 14 years old; one of possession of child pornography, and six of exposure to a person under 14. Charged with two counts of sexual assault is Marlin Roy 41, of Prue Ave., North York.
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:B1B1cb9v6GEJ:www.canadacourtwatch.com/CanadaCourtWatchReports/2006June05-YorkRegionCASWorkerBUSTED.pdf+former+CAS+charged&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=23&gl=ca
York Region CAS worker BUSTED!
CAS supervisor charged for stealing child’s Easter gifts By Mike March, Justice Reporter June 5, 2006 – Newmarket, Ontario Most readers have seen on TV the story about the Grinch who stole Christmas, but it seems that aformer worker with the York Region CAS may earn the distinction of being labelled as the Grinch who stole Easter from a young child. A mother whose child is in the care of the YorkRegion Children’s Aid Society reported to Court Watch that a supervisor with the York Region CAS,Ms. Donna Lennon, was arrested last week and charged by York Regional police for stealing her child’s Easter present. Ms. Lennon was the child’s worker andaccording to the mother also a supervisor with the York CAS with over 20 years service in the child protection industry. York Regional Police advised Court Watch that Ms. Lennon will be brought before the Newmarket criminal court on July 6, 2006 to face the charges. For the purposes of protecting the identity of the child, the mother’s name and the name of the child involved have not been mentioned in this article. The mother alleged that Ms. Lennon stole money and gifts which were given by her to the York CAS to be delivered to her son in care. The mother’s Easter present to her son consisted of a debit card with a bit of spending money credited to it, some small toys and someEaster chocolate with the PIN number of the debitcard included in the package so that the boy could withdraw his spending money at his own leisure. After Easter, however, the mother found outthat her son had not received his gift and that he wasvery distraught over this. The boy’s case worker, Ms. Lennon, never delivered boy the gifts that his mother had delivered to the York CAS offices. Upon further investigation, the mother discovered that the money which she had credited onher son’s debit card had been withdrawn from a bank machine and it was not her son who had withdrawn it. Sensing that something was terribly wrong, the mother next tried to get some answers through theYork CAS offices, however she was given the run around as well by agency staff. The Director would not speak to her and referred her back to less ranking workers. Citing reasons of confidentiality, nobody at the agency would give her any answers. She was told that she could file a complaint if she wanted. Seeing as the York Region CAS was not goingto cooperate in the matter, she decided to call thepolice for help. According to the mother, the police traced the withdrawal from the debit card back to Ms. Lennon from a photo that was taken by the bank machine where the withdrawal from the boy’s card was made. Faced with the embarrassing proof that it wastheir own CAS worker who had taken the boy’s money, the York Region CAS kept the bank card but gave the boy his money back in cash althoughnothing was ever confirmed officially by the agency. From the other items, including the chocolate and toys that appeared to have disappeared only about 75% of the items were recovered with the mother having to repurchase those items which were still missing. The mother told Court Watch that police were originally not going to charge the worker becausethe money was eventually returned. However, it was felt by the mother that the York Region CAS were not sincere about giving theboy back his money and that it was only returned in an attempt to hush things up while the agencymaintained a wall of silence. The mother felt that to let the worker off the hook was not the right thing to do and that this worker should be accountable.
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York CAS worker BUSTED Page 2 of 2“If it had been me or another person from the community who had committed this terrible crime, you can be sure that we would have been arrestedand charged,” said the mother. “Why should these CAS workers get specialtreatment,” she went on to say. The mother faxed a letter to the York Regional Police requesting that police charge the worker and to make the worker answer to the allegations. Within a day of sending out her letter, the mother was advised by police that they would belaying charges against the York Region CAS worker involved in the matter. “The police officer who has been involved has been very helpful, but I certainly cannot say that for anyone with the York Region CAS” said the mother. “My son and I feel better now knowing that this CAS worker will be held accountable.” The mother said that she felt that this incident was likely not the only time this worker had stolen from children under her care and wondered how many other children and families may have been affected as a result of the actions of this CAS worker. During this whole ordeal, the mother said thatit was impossible to get any real help or informationfrom the York Region CAS staff. Every effort she made to get information was blocked by workers at the agency in what the motherbelieved was an attempt to cover-up misdeeds by thesupervisor in order to protect the agency.Even after police finally said that they would lay charges, it took them several days to locate Ms. Lennon because workers with the York Region CAS were less than cooperative in providing information that would assist police to locate Ms. Lennon. “It really bothers me how the administration at York Region CAS never really took an interest indealing with the theft,” said the mother. “When I called the agency to report that myson’s money had been stolen, workers at the agencytold me to line up and file a complaint. Everyone knows how long the complaint process takes,” she said. The mother said that the York Region CAS was totally uncooperative at every turn. To this day, the mother said that the agency has never formally acknowledged or apologized for the theft. She feels that the least the director of the agency should have done was to write a letter toformally acknowledge the incident and to provide some reassurance that steps have been taken to ensure that this sort of thing does not happen again. “Instead of apologising, they tried to hide theproblem.” said the mother. If the York CAS agency had been morecooperative instead of trying to give me the cold shoulder in the beginning, matters would not likelyhave escalated to this point,” .she said. I want to see that this sort of crime never happens to another child in their care. Court Watch has interviewed other children on videotape who have also said that they do not like dealing with the York Region CAS. Children have reported that they do not trust York Region CAS workers and that workers did notseem to want to listen. Last year, Court Watch interviewed a number of children, including teens who reported how theYork Region CAS were trying to force them to live with their mother even after they had reported to CAS workers that their mother was physically and emotionally abusing them. Ms. Lennon was involved in that case as well. In fact, according to the teens, workers with the York Region CAS put their support behind their abusive and manipulative mother and that actions of workers and lawyers with the York Region and Simcoe County CAS agencies have caused irreparable harm to their family. Those teens say they plan to launch a lawsuitagainst CAS workers and the York Region CAS. Anyone having dealings with Ms. Donna Lennon or with the York Region CAS are asked tocontact Canada Court Watch by phone at (416) 410-4115 or by e mail at info@canadacourtwatch.com to relate their experiences. Many claim that the problem of abuse ofchildren and families by over-zealous and/or unaccountable workers has become a widespreadproblem across the Province of Ontario with CAS agencies. The Province’s Ombudsman, Andre Marin, has tried for some time to bring CAS agencies under his scrutiny but so far has been met with only oppositionby CAS agencies. With children dying in care of CAS agenciesand many children and parents telling of horrorstories of corruption and incompetence by CAS workers and agencies, it is time that the veil of secrecy surrounding CAS agencies be lifted. It’s time for Ontario’s Ombudsman to be givenfull and unrestricted authority to investigate CAS agencies without any further delay.
Toronto Star Newspaper
CAS supervisor “merchant of death” says Crown Attorney.
CAS supervisor linked to bringing guns into Canada for youth gang
(October 18, 2006) A former supervisor with the Children’s Aid Society acted as a “merchant of death” says Ontario Crown Prosecutor, Nevina Crisante. Sara Vilella, 27, left her job as a CAS supervisor to be part of a gun smuggling ring which was caught bringing arms into Canada. Was she involved with organized crime while working for the CAS? Many would believe that this CAS supervisor was involved in organized crime while a worker with the CAS and left her job in order to pursue a more active role with those she had become associated while performing her duties with the CAS.
What Would You Do?
http://www.whatwouldyoudo.ca/gpage6.html
The Liberals have empowered an ocean of fraud and lies. They made their bed, and will be voted out in great numbers!
If they want to get out of bed with brokers, get the Ombudsman in now - if not see the results. You will be voted out on mass over this!
You tried to put out a fire at one end of the forest, and created an inferno at the other end in the meantime.
It cannot be overlooked, and it is not being overlooked. Just watch the numbers in the fall over this. It was not that difficult to rein in CAS - but none of you have done that at all. You have given them more arms, and arms from hell.
Into the arms of hell, children will go. Vote them out on mass!
Into the arms of hell, children will go. Vote them out on mass!
Like the wrath of God for this we come.
Beauty and the beast, without Disneyland.
We will not tolerate it any longer!
I was wondering if you would be intersted in doing an interview for my
site www.bloggerview.net
I really like the angle of your blog and think it would make a great
addition to the interviews allready posted there.
Would it be ok if I sent you through a few questions?
Let me know pete@bloggerview.net
Child advocate's powers enhanced
New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal
Wed 30 May 2007
Page: A2
Section: News
Byline: Meghan Cumby Telegraph-Journal
Premier Shawn Graham introduced legislation Tuesday to increase the powers of the ombudsman and of the child and youth advocate. The changes will also make it easier for one person to hold both positions. "The changes proposed in the new bill are intended to support the smooth functioning of this combined office, by making the processes and authorities of the child and youth advocate more similar to those now used by the ombudsman and other officers of the legislative assembly," Graham said in the legislature Tuesday. The Child and Youth Advocate Act builds on a bill of the same name, which Graham introduced when he was Opposition leader in 2004. The original bill established the child and youth advocate office responsible for ensuring the rights and interests of children and youth are protected. The government appointed Ombudsman Bernard Richard as the first child and youth advocate. Richard still holds both positions. The new legislation officially allows one person to hold both offices, though it does not require it. The new act also expands child and youth advocate's powers, giving the advocate the same authority as the ombudsman to investigate matters and question people who might have relevant information. "This new act will go even further to ensure that the advocate has the authority and powers required to act in the interests of our children and young people," Graham said. The advocate's mandate will remain the same. The government is also changing the Ombudsman Act to give the Office of the Ombudsman more access to information and more independence. The ombudsman would have more access to documents from government departments - such as mental health, adoption, and school records. "This bill will set out clearer rules enhancing the ombudsman's ability to access information while at the same time making it clear that government can and will make this information available when it is required for the ombudsman's review," Graham said. The ombudsman and his office would be bound by the same confidentiality as the departments from which the information is provided, especially where personal information is involved. This is a more strict level of confidentiality than the ombudsman and his office are currently bound to. The proposed amendments also require a two- thirds vote of the legislative assembly to remove the ombudsman from office instead of a simple majority. As well, the government could not re-appoint an ombudsman for any more terms of office under the new law. The legislative assembly could, however, extend the ombudsman's term for no more than six months if necessary to finish an investigation of public interest. The term can be as long as 10 years. Opposition member Jody Carr says his party supports the effort to help the ombudsman and child and youth advocate do his job better. "The new act is a way to strengthen what was already there by the previous government and we support that," Carr says. He says he is, however, concerned about an omission in the new proposed Child and Youth Advocate Act. The original act called for the government to open the Child and Youth Advocate position to the public. Under the new act, the position would be appointed by the government. "It was unprecedented to ask for public names, public competition to fill a position of an officer of the legislature," Carr says. "They were always all just appointed by cabinet." Carr says the Liberals should have kept that provision which they introduced while in Opposition. He says removing it shows inconsistency. Carr says he will be proposing an amendment to the proposed legislation in the committee of the whole that brings back that section. Richard was not available for comment Tuesday.
Let us not allow more crap to be spewed. Get the Ontario Ombudsman to have oversight of this web of fraud and deceit now!
Bite me !!!
McGuinty Government Giving Vulnerable Children And Youth A Stronger Voice
Canada News-Wire
Wed 30 May 2007
Dateline: TORONTO, May 30
Time: 21:00 (Eastern Time)
Legislation Makes Ontario's Child And Youth Advocate Independent
TORONTO, May 30 /CNW/ - Ontario's child and youth advocate will be a strong voice on behalf of Ontario's most vulnerable young people as independent and as influential as the provincial Ombudsman and the Auditor General, Minister of Children and Youth Services Mary Anne Chambers announced today.
"There is no room for political interference when it comes to the rights of our children," said Chambers, following the passage of Bill 165, An Act to Establish and Provide for the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth in the Ontario legislature. The legislation makes the province's child and youth advocate an independent officer of the legislature, reporting to the Legislative Assembly, and as independent as Ontario's Auditor General and the Ombudsman. Prior to this legislation, the advocate reported to the Minister of Children and Youth Services.
"This legislation delivers on a key commitment of this government and a promise we made on behalf of Ontario's children and youth," said Chambers. "Every year, the Office of Child and Family Service Advocacy receives more than 3,000 calls from some of our most vulnerable children and youth. These young people deserve to be heard by someone who can advocate on their behalf, without the risk of having their voices suppressed."
The independent child and youth advocate will speak for many of Ontario's young people, including those who are who are in contact with the youth justice system, children's mental health or complex special needs systems, child protection and well-being system, and in provincial and demonstration schools for the deaf, blind, deaf/blind and learning disabled.
"Elevating the position of the Child and Youth Advocate to the same level of independence as the Auditor General or Ombudsman sends a powerful message that Ontario is serious about its accountability to its children," said Ontario's Chief Advocate Judy Finlay. "Children and youth in Ontario will have unfettered access to the Child and Youth Advocate and will be offered meaningful participation in decisions that are being made about them. This is an important moment in Ontario's history."
The legislation incorporates the advice and views of many people heard at
public hearings, including children and youth, and young people in First
Nations and remote communities. It is part of the government's plan to help
vulnerable young people in Ontario succeed and thrive. Other initiatives have
resulted in:
<<
- An amended Child and Family Services Act that strengthens the
accountability of children's aid societies and allows more children
to grow up in safe, caring, permanent homes
- A faster, easier and more consistent process for people to make
complaints about certain services or decisions they have received
from a children's aid society, which includes third party oversight
by an independent body, the Child and Family Services Review Board
(CFSRB)
- The ability of children's treatment centres to provide more services
to almost 7,000 young people with physical and developmental
disabilities and other special needs; these community-based centres
serve approximately 45,000 children and youth every year
- The number of children with autism receiving Intensive Behaviour
Intervention (IBI) services more than doubling, to more than 1,100;
children are no longer being discharged on the basis of age
"Our government has listened and we have brought forward substantive
amendments to strengthen this legislation so that vulnerable children and
youth in our province will be well served," said Chambers. "An independent
advocate will give increased attention to the rights and experiences of
vulnerable children and youth to an extent never seen before in this province
and will help protect our young people from inappropriate treatment and
abuse."
If you are abused do not go near the parasites at CAS, you will never see your children again. Find another service!
Printed from www.brantfordexpositor.ca web site Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - © 2007 Brantford Expositor
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Workshop helps local agencies better serve immigrant women
Tuesday, June 05, 2007 - 07:00
Local News - Julia McGibbon wants to better help immigrants when they turn to Nova Vita for help.
When it comes to counselling refugees or immigrants, "we're not as informed as we could be," said McGibbon, a transitional support worker at the city's women's shelter.
Other organizations also face challenges offering services to newcomers. This helped prompt the Sexual Assault Centre of Brant to hold a workshop this week on violence against immigrant and refugee women.
The workshop, which started Monday and ends today, is meant to teach those who may be in contact with victims of violence how to effectively deal with them.
"It's an awareness process," said Immaculate Tumwine, the workshop's facilitator, who works with the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants.
"We think people are not aware enough, especially in smaller cities without a lot of immigration."
The two-day workshop attracted participants from children's aid, police, hospital workers and other groups.
afraid to report abuse
It covers how to recognize warning signs of abuse, cultural sensitivity and particular problems immigrants face. One full day focuses on law, a complicated issue because there are immigrants with different legal status in Canada.
Immigrant women might come from drastically different environments, and may not know their rights. They may be unaware of things Canadians take for granted, such as calling 911.
For example, some women don't want to report abuse because they fear their husbands will have them deported, Tumwine said. They also fear that the Children's Aid Society will take away their children.
Those fears are why agencies have to work together, she said. Helping an abused woman means referring them to the right place, and to the right person.
While some may assume that Brantford may not have enough immigration to make these issues a problem, that's not true, said Carrie Sinkowski, an outreach worker with the Sexual Assault Centre.
Sinkowski said Brantford's immigrant communities are simply less visible then in some other cities. "There are a lot more then anyone would think."
Census figures from 2001 recorded 12,125 immigrants in Brantford, with 7,000 of those coming from Europe. Since then, the immigrant community has grown even more, said Azra Chaudhry, a host co-ordinator with YMCA Immigration Settlement Services.
"There are over 100 languages spoken here," said Chaudhry. "The biggest community is from Spanish speaking countries and the second biggest is East Asian."
Tumwine believes awareness programs such as the two-day workshop are necessary because there have been cases in Ontario where service providers could have done a better job.
"There have been instances of death," she said, "and in those cases, an opportunity may have been missed."
ID- 556799
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© 2007 , Osprey Media. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Woman tells of grim trail of abuse
Project Truth Inquiry hears more unsettling allegations
By CP
CORNWALL — A former city woman told an inquiry on Monday that she was sexually and physically abused by a Children’s Aid Society caseworker and even held for a period of time in the trunk of the man’s car.
Jeanette Antoine first became a ward of the CAS when she was five years old in 1965 and over the course of the following 11 years endured what she claims was repeated physical and sexual abuse at the hands of foster parents and even her own caseworker.
Antoine told the inquiry probing the institutional response to allegations of systemic sexual abuse in the Cornwall area that when she was 16, she and a handful of other teens ran away from a CAS-run group home where she says they were being abused by workers.
The group broke into a cottage in Summerstown, and stayed on their own for a few days before being apprehended by police and dropped off at the CAS office in Cornwall. Antoine said there were a group of workers there to take the kids from the police.
“One worker would take a kid,” said Antoine, who said she was under the care of her caseworker, a man by the name of Brian Keough. “Brian grabbed me and put me in the trunk of his car while the other workers talked to the kids.”
The woman, who is now 46 years old and lives in Edmonton, said she can’t remember exactly how long she was in the trunk, but she remembers she fell asleep.
“He came out and took me back into the CAS office into this big conference room,” said the woman. “I remember all the kids were there and there were a lot of workers there.”
The woman said she and other teenagers who were living at the group home in the 1970s were physically and sexually abused by Keough and other workers on a regular basis.
“He (Keough) would do something to at least one of them every week,” said the woman. “Each week it would be a different girl.”
Antoine said she remembers a time when all the girls in the home were prescribed birth control pills, although she says she was never in danger of becoming pregnant.
“He (Keough) never actually had sex with me,” said Antoine. “He molested me, but it was never sex.”
Antoine testified she was also sexually abused by other men during her time in foster care.
When she was six years old and her sister was eight years old, the girls were living in a foster home in the city. Antoine said her foster father began to sexually and physically abuse her and her sister within months of their arrival at the home.
“He would come downstairs (to the girls’ bedroom) and get in bed between us and put his hands on both of us at the same time,” said Antoine, speaking in a voice barely above a whisper. “He would tell his wife he was reading us a book.”
Antoine said she was also physically abused by the man, his wife and their biological daughter.
She said she told Keough about some of the incidents of abuse, but wasn’t believed.
“He said I was a liar,” said Antoine. “He said that was the best foster home they had and I was lucky to be there.”
No one has ever been charged with any crime related to Antoine’s allegations.
The inquiry continues.
Ontario ombudsman to investigate police SIU
toronto.ctv.ca
Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin is launching an investigation into allegations the police Special Investigations Unit isn't doing its job properly.
Marin says there has been a "troubling" increase in the number of complaints about the SIU, the civilian agency which investigates police actions in cases involving death or serious injury.
"The allegations cannot be ignored," Marin told reporters at a press conference on Thursday.
Marin says he's received complaints the SIU is slow to investigate, isn't impartial enough and is "less than thorough'' in their investigations. Families involved have also said they aren't being given information by the agency.
"We count on the civilian agency to investigate police -- it's where the buck stops with police accountability with death and serious injury," Marin said.
The ombudsman has received 20 complaints in the past 17 months alone, from victims, their families, lawyers and interest groups.
Marin says eight Toronto-area cases involving death and serious injury will be "put under the microscope'' to begin with. He wouldn't discuss specific cases involved in the review, but said they involved cases where police were cleared under suspicious conditions.
Marin said he is not reinvestigating the police cases, but probing how the SIU performed their work.
The ombudsman will be looking at incidents from 2003 on and is asking anyone who has information about the SIU to come forward to his office.
Marin, the former head of the SIU, will complete the investigation by October and will make his report public by November.
With files from The Canadian Press
Here's more:
Ontario ombudsman to investigate police SIU
April Lindgren
CanWest News Service
Thursday, June 07, 2007
TORONTO-- Ontario's tough-minded ombudsman has fixed his sights on the province's Special Investigations Unit following complaints about delays, secrecy and a pro-police bias at the civilian agency responsible for investigating police actions that involve the serious injury or death of members of the public.
"Complaints to our office by lawyers, interest groups and some individuals have raised a number of concerns about how Special Investigation Unit investigations are conducted," Andre Marin told a press conference Thursday. "They allege cases of delays in occurrences being reported to and investigated by the SIU.
"Complainants have also suggested that investigations lacked objectivity and were less than thorough. We have also heard concerns about a lack of information being provided to victims and families, particularly at the conclusion of an investigation."
Marin, who in the past has issued blunt indictments of everything from the province's property assessment agency to the Ontario Lottery Corporation's handling of suspected cheats among lottery ticket retailers, said his office has received 20 complaints over the past 17 months.
Of those, he said, eight will be put "under the microscope" by his special investigatory team.
Police union whiners! get a life guys!
Is Ontario's SIU soft on police officers?
KAREN HOWLETT AND TIMOTHY APPLEBY
From Friday's Globe and Mail
June 7, 2007 at 9:24 PM EDT
Long viewed with suspicion by Ontario's police, the civilian-staffed agency that investigates police-related incidents involving death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault is now under scrutiny by the province's Ombudsman for an alleged pro-police bias.
The move follows a rash of complaints that the Special Investigations Unit, whose civilian oversight of police is unique in Canada, consistently tilts in their favour.
"Recently, I have observed a troubling increase in complaints about the SIU, all raising serious allegations that cannot be ignored," Ontario Ombudsman André Marin — who himself once headed the SIU — told reporters at Queen's Park in announcing the unprecedented probe.
"The allegation is the SIU is not doing its job properly."
Enlarge Image
Ontario Ombudsman André Marin has launched an investigation into the effectiveness and credibility of the province's civilian agency responsible for overseeing police actions. (CP)
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John Musselman on the probe of SIU
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Ontario Ombudsman: Read the release
Asked whether that meant police are being given an easy ride, Mr. Marin responded, "That's one way of putting it."
Mr. Marin said that over the past 17 months, his office has fielded 20 calls for help from unhappy lawyers and relatives of people whose deaths or injuries were investigated by the SIU.
Among the criticisms were a lack of information, delays, incomplete forensic tests and the discarding of evidence.
Eight of those 20 cases will now be put under a microscope, Mr. Marin said, with the results expected by the end of October.
Lawyer and long-time SIU critic Julian Falconer said the agency, most of whose 54 part-time and full-time investigators have a police background, harbours an institutional bias.
"There is a reasonable perception and a potential reality that a pro-police culture has taken over the SIU," Mr. Falconer told reporters, saying its work "can no longer be trusted."
True or not, most observers agree that hostility to the unit among the province's 25,000 police officers has abated substantially since its inception in 1990, after a searing provincewide inquiry into policing and race relations that stemmed from two highly controversial Toronto-area police shootings.
In part that changed perception reflects an expanded budget — currently $5.4-million — enhanced technological capabilities and clearer ground rules.
Also true, however, is that criminal charges against police remain very rare.
Last year, the SIU examined a total of 226 cases and laid charges in just two.
In 2005, the respective figures were 195 and three; in 2004, the totals were 136 and three.
As of May 31, this year's caseload comprised 104 investigations, with charges laid in three.
Rather than shoddy investigations, those low numbers reflect the professionalism and high calibre of Ontario's police, SIU spokeswoman Rose Bliss said yesterday.
And in a statement, director James Cornish said the Mississauga-based SIU "operates with complete integrity and meets excellent investigative standards," and voiced confidence the inquiry launched by Mr. Marin — who spent 22 months at the SIU helm in the late 1990s — would be fair and impartial.
Police union leaders were less sure.
Bruce Miller, chief administrative officer for the Police Association of Ontario, said that during recent provincial hearings into the much broader issue of complaints against police generally, "I never heard any special concerns among the public about the Special Investigations Unit."
As a result, Mr. Miller said, "we are going to monitor the progress of this review very closely to make sure our members are not going to be put at risk, and that specific investigations are not going to be looked at again and again and again. … I'm not sure where this is coming from."
Toronto Police Association president Dave Wilson said much the same.
New Democratic MPP Peter Kormos contended that provincial Attorney-General Michael Bryant is ultimately to blame for any problems at the SIU.
"It's mind-boggling that the Attorney-General would have done nothing about those allegations and wouldn't have embarked upon his own investigation," he said.
He needs to investigate the SIU with the current news.
Arzie Chant from Canada writes: Andre Marin is a god-send. It's as plain as day to anyone who has seen some of the garbage that the SIU has allowed to pass that it needs to be revamped. The police are necessary and important in our society, but there must be a competent watchdog to ensure they never abuse their powers and violate the public trust, and when they do, it must be willing to drop the hammer. Hard.
While police chiefs and police union representatives may whine and complain about any oversight, it is ultimately in their best interests to have it because maintaining the public trust in the police ensures a better relationship and working environment for our men and women in uniform.
bob london from Canada writes: Andre will figure it out. Thank goodness he is in Ontario. Now he just has to look at the 80 percent of the "arms length" agencies in the province as well and we will all be happier
Andre for Prime Minister? Not unless he's fixed the CAS!!!!!
Marin's new probe on familiar turf
The Toronto Star
Sat 09 Jun 2007
Page: A02
Section: News
Byline: Rosie DiManno
Source: Toronto Star
One of these days, Andre Marin will run for public office and save Canada: Attorney General Marin or Solicitor-General Marin or maybe even Prime Minister Marin.
"No, no, no," the career civil servant insists. "I have no interest whatsoever in a political career. And you're not going to make me eat my words."
The scenario was first put to Marin about decade ago, by this reporter, when he was named head of the Special Investigations Unit at the tender age of 31. He's now 42 and the freewheeling Ombudsman for Ontario. In between, Marin functioned as military ombudsman, among other things shining a light on post- traumatic disorder among service personnel. As provincial ombudsman, Marin has taken on the predicament of parents with special needs children, municipal property assessment, lotteries and medical screening of infants.
"Pretty much everything from cradle to grave," he observed in an interview yesterday, "because the provincial government is omnipresent in people's lives."
So, he's an active public advocate and that will look pretty good on the resume Marin persists in maintaining he will never exploit for political office.
His father was a federal judge; his brother is an Ottawa cop.
This week, Marin announced he was launching a probe of the SIU in response to public complaints about how the agency investigates cases in which civilians have been killed or seriously injured in incidents involving police.
Consider the irony there, given Marin's former position with that agency, an outfit that has been formally scrutinized at least three times since 1996.
There is a culture of professional association - the perception of bias towards police - that has compromised the SIU since it was established. That doesn't mean any such bias exists, or, if so, that it can be quantified. The SIU has many built-in protocols to prevent buddy-buddy tendencies. Example: no investigator can handle a case involving a police force where he or she was previously employed. But these individuals are mostly former cops and that has fed a level of scepticism about fairness.
On Thursday, Marin said he'd isolated eight cases, arising from 20 complaints - a surprisingly small pool of discontent - that merited review of SIU investigatory procedures and professional competence. By yesterday, a further half-dozen were on his radar.
"These are compelling cases. I look at quality, not quantity. And there are some darn serious issues that have been raised about lack of objectivity and thoroughness, issues that nobody else can look into."
Marin won't flatly state the SIU goes easy on police. He does maintain such an environment never existed on his watch. "Has it regressed? I don't know."
Marin does not have the authority to reopen any case as a criminal investigation. He can only recommend that the SIU take another look at a particular occurrence if it appears the investigation was faulty. But some cases, such as the 2004 shooting death of knife-wielding teenager Jeffrey Reodica, have already received thorough scrutiny by a coroner's inquest. It appears a bad case to advance for SIU mishandling.
"I've been on the other end," says Marin, referring to families unhappy with decisions made by the SIU not to charge officers. "There is sometimes a lynch mob mentality against police, however (the case) is justified by the facts and the law. I'm very mindful of that. But the rule of law is immutable for police officers too."
Officers in this province have been more frequently charged in criminal and civil court in recent years. Juries routinely acquit them. If a palpable bias exists, that's where it is to be found. And Marin has no mandate to probe public sympathies.
Marin's new probe on familiar turf
June 09, 2007
ROSIE DIMANNO
One of these days, André Marin will run for public office and save Canada:
Attorney General Marin or Solicitor-General Marin or maybe even Prime
Minister Marin.
"No, no, no,'' the career civil servant insists. "I have no interest
whatsoever in a political career. And you're not going to make me eat my
words.''
The scenario was first put to Marin about decade ago, by this reporter, when
he was named head of the Special Investigations Unit at the tender age of
31. He's now 42 and the freewheeling Ombudsman for Ontario. In between,
Marin functioned as military ombudsman, among other things shining a light
on post-traumatic disorder among service personnel. As provincial ombudsman,
Marin has taken on the predicament of parents with special needs children,
municipal property assessment, lotteries and medical screening of infants.
"Pretty much everything from cradle to grave,'' he observed in an interview
yesterday, "because the provincial government is omnipresent in people's
lives.''
So, he's an active public advocate and that will look pretty good on the
resume Marin persists in maintaining he will never exploit for political
office.
His father was a federal judge; his brother is an Ottawa cop.
This week, Marin announced he was launching a probe of the SIU in response
to public complaints about how the agency investigates cases in which
civilians have been killed or seriously injured in incidents involving
police.
Consider the irony there, given Marin's former position with that agency, an
outfit that has been formally scrutinized at least three times since 1996.
There is a culture of professional association - the perception of bias
towards police - that has compromised the SIU since it was established. That
doesn't mean any such bias exists, or, if so, that it can be quantified. The
SIU has many built-in protocols to prevent buddy-buddy tendencies. Example:
no investigator can handle a case involving a police force where he or she
was previously employed. But these individuals are mostly former cops and
that has fed a level of scepticism about fairness.
On Thursday, Marin said he'd isolated eight cases, arising from 20
complaints - a surprisingly small pool of discontent - that merited review
of SIU investigatory procedures and professional competence. By yesterday, a
further half-dozen were on his radar.
"These are compelling cases. I look at quality, not quantity. And there are
some darn serious issues that have been raised about lack of objectivity and
thoroughness, issues that nobody else can look into.''
Marin won't flatly state the SIU goes easy on police. He does maintain such
an environment never existed on his watch. "Has it regressed? I don't
know.''
Marin does not have the authority to reopen any case as a criminal
investigation. He can only recommend that the SIU take another look at a
particular occurrence if it appears the investigation was faulty. But some
cases, such as the 2004 shooting death of knife-wielding teenager Jeffrey
Reodica, have already received thorough scrutiny by a coroner's inquest. It
appears a bad case to advance for SIU mishandling.
"I've been on the other end,'' says Marin, referring to families unhappy
with decisions made by the SIU not to charge officers. "There is sometimes a
lynch mob mentality against police, however (the case) is justified by the
facts and the law. I'm very mindful of that. But the rule of law is
immutable for police officers too.''
Officers in this province have been more frequently charged in criminal and
civil court in recent years. Juries routinely acquit them. If a palpable
bias exists, that's where it is to be found. And Marin has no mandate to
probe public sympathies.
HELP! OMBUDSMAN!!
Has the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs failed in
its vital public trust in protecting agriculture, food, health, the
environment, and rural communities and economies- the National Farmers'
Union thinks so.
The NFU is about to take a bold and unprecedented step in leadership. A step
that we hope will make a real difference for farmers across this province in
years to come. A step that we hope will ensure that the public's trust in
the development and enactment of food policy in Ontario is respected. A step
that was revealed to be even more necessary than ever, after the recent
policy actions of the Minister of Agriculture, Leona Dombrowsky.
First, the Minister's actions.
On June 8th the Minister sent around a media release suggesting that
government was taking a bold step on behalf of Ontario's farmers. The truth,
unfortunately, was a little different.
The Minister kicked in the Ontario portion of a previous federal
announcement on cost of production assistance, welcomed news to be sure and
worthy of congratulation if she had stopped there. But a bold step hardly.
It was not even surprising given we are just months away from an election.
The Minister then moved to a pilot project to implement a risk management
program that presumably will target grain and oil seed farmers, although not
a single detail was released.
Grain and Oil seed farmers, supported officially by at least two of
Ontario's three general farm organizations - the NFU and the Christian
Farmers Federation of Ontario - placed a detailed plan on the Minister's
table over two years ago. If you remember the Farmers Feed Cities campaign,
it was in support of this plan.
Two years later, the Minister makes a promise of a promise on the eve of an
election, yet with two years to prepare for the moment not a single detail
was available.
Yet again the Minister has shown that farm policy in Ontario is little more
than ad hoc designed to solve short term political problems for government,
not deal with the real issues farmers are facing. Give them a photo-op,
promise them some help and hope they go away seems to be the prevailing
attitude. It is clear this is not going to change any time soon no matter
what party is in government.
So the NFU has taken a bold step. The NFU has filed an official complaint
with the Ombudsman of Ontario asking for an investigation of the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture and Food. It is the NFU's submission that OMAFRA has
failed in its vital public trust in protecting agriculture, food, health,
the environment, and rural communities and economies. While some groups have
asked for the audit of Agricorp, which the NFU supports, that can not
address the larger issues related to the types of outcomes farmers and the
general public demand and expect. The breach of public trust is not merely
in the delivery of agricultural services, it is in the formulation of the
underlying policies. We are facing not only defective means, but misguided
ends.
Most of us want food produced by family farmers who are financially secure
on intergenerational farms. Further, citizens believe that the ability of
young farmers to make sustainable livings in agriculture is key to the
long-term sustainability of our food system.
In contrast, young farmers are being pushed out at an unprecedented rate;
the intergenerational family farm that has been the basis of food production
in Ontario for over 250 years is disintegrating.
The 1991 Census of Agriculture recorded 18,440 farmers in Ontario under the
age of 35. The 2006 Census recorded only 7,070, a drop of 62 per cent.
This rate of decline among young farmers will lead Ontario family farms over
a demographic cliff. That OMAFRA policies should have driven
tens-of-thousands of young farmers off their families' farms is perhaps the
most telling, and damning, indicator of the vast divergence between the
Ministry's policies and the expectations of Ontario citizens.
The NFU believes it is time to review where agricultural policy is taking us
and to ask the basic question of whether or not government is truly acting
in the interests of our farmers and other citizens. The NFU believes OMAFRA
is not and it is time for outside intervention. It is our hope that the
Ombudsman will take up our plea for action and that a report on what has
happened might finally help to chart a course that leads to farm policy that
actually works for family farmers. If you believe this is an important step
please contact the Ombudsman's office and register your support.
-- -- -- --
Grant Robertson is a senior official with the National Farmers Union-Ontario
and a National Board Member of the NFU. Opinions are those of the author.
Robertson can be contacted by e-mail (see link)
B.C. hacker brings down former U.S. judge for child porn
VANCOUVER — A Canadian computer hacker with a mission to expose pedophiles has brought down a former American judge who’s been sentenced to 27 months in jail for possessing child pornography on his home computer.
The 26-year-old Langley, B.C., hacker told Global TV he did several months of investigating on Ronald Kline, a former Superior Court judge from Irvine, Calif.
Kline, 66, reportedly collapsed in a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday after learning of his prison sentence for possessing more than 100 images of child porn.
“Once I realized how big the pedophile world was I couldn’t ignore it,” said the computer crusader, who doesn’t want his name released.
The virtual vigilante has hacked into about 3,000 computers around the world.
And he’s responsible for exposing dozens of child predators across North America through a “Trojan Horse” computer virus.
“They think it’s a picture and it infects their computer with the Trojan,” the man said, adding that lets him access whatever information he needs.
He said he started hacking into computers as a teenager 10 years ago and wrote the program that led to Kline’s downfall.
Turning in pedophiles to police has been a satisfying hobby for the computer whiz, who does the hacking in his spare time.
But the self-taught hacker says his crime-fighting days are over because he has been breaking the law.
“There’s laws involved and people have to obey the laws,” he said.
“I don’t want to go to jail.”
© Canadian Press 2007
This is absolute and total bullshit - we need the Ombudsman over this NOW!
Crown wards feel abandoned by the CAS as they age out of care
Jun 15, 2007 04:30 AM
Michele Henry
Living Reporter
It's harder than he thought it would be.
Sampson Fragoso, baby-faced and calloused hands, was pumped, at first, to make it on his own, free from Children's Aid; free from "parents."
Two months out, the former Crown ward works 65 hours a week temping as a shipper/receiver, and taking odd jobs, just to survive. Keeping a roof over his head and affording food is a daily struggle – never mind saving up to finish high school.
Like more than 650 Ontario youth every year, Fragoso was cut loose from the "system" on his 21st birthday. The hand that saved him from abusive parents, sheltered, fed and "loved" him for 15 years was abruptly ripped away.
He's crashing into adulthood totally alone.
"I've relied on CAS my whole life, then one day my contract is over," he says.
"I don't understand. They took me from my home. They've taken responsibility for me. I feel like they should take care of me forever. I have to rely on them. I have no other support."
For Judy Finlay, Ontario's Child Advocate, that's one of the system's biggest failings. Care is wrenched from these youth, piling fresh loss on lives already heaped with injury and trauma.
On Thursday, Finlay will release a study, the first of its kind, examining the quality of care for Crown wards. The report, based on conversations Finlay had with close to 300 kids and youth in the system, is expected to outline recommendations about all aspects of child welfare, including transitioning out of the system and care in foster and group homes.
The "transition to adulthood" is an area Finlay says needs immediate attention. Youth can opt out of the system at 16, or stay in, but at 18 they must sign an Extended Care and Maintenance agreement, which provides a monthly cheque in return for staying in school or holding a job until youth turn 21.
The 21-year-olds are bound to fail in a society that's biased against renting housing to the seemingly irresponsible and competitive even for people with post-secondary degrees, youth workers agree. It's a world where kids finish school and leave home, on average, at 27, according to Statistics Canada, not 18 or 21.
Unless the province reframes how it sees Crown wards, as kids, not numbers or case files, youth are headed for welfare, homelessness or worse, Finlay says.
Wards on "independence" say they live in squalor, don't know how to deal with peer pressure and must make hard choices daily, like whether to do homework or earn money so they can eat.
"We're parents to these children," Finlay says. "We have a responsibility to treat them like our own. That's not what happens. We've failed the kids in care anyway, but we've failed these kids who are transitioning out of care in particular. There's no safety net for these kids."
She wants to see change. And she has the support of everyone from CAS executive directors to social workers across the province to YouthCan, a community advocacy network, organized by the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies.
Mary-Ann Chambers, Ontario's minister of children and youth services, says her ministry is reviewing the supports available for youth between 18 and 21. But Chambers doesn't believe extending the age of care will make Crown wards more successful in the real world.
"It's not as simple as saying, `Instead of 21, let's make it 25,'" she says. "25 is just an arbitrary number."
Chambers doesn't believe giving youth more time with a case worker is the answer either. Instead, she says, increasing the supports youth have throughout their lives is a better way to go.
YouthCan wants to see the age of care extended to 25. Medical insurance should be extended past 21, Finlay says, so youth can have access to the prescription drugs they used while in care. Young mothers with babies should be given extra resources, she adds. YouthCan says wards need $500 a semester toward tuition, and college/university application fees waived. Everyone wants to see grassroots workers getting as involved with youth, as real parents should.
The most common and striking complaint Finlay heard from youth during the course of her research was that no one has time for them.
"Youth talked about care workers having too big a case load," she says. "They need a parent."
Alicia Venditti, 19, wouldn't argue with that. A month ago, she wasn't invited on a camping trip and like any teen, needed a shoulder to cry on. It wasn't available.
"For my worker, my situation wasn't a big deal," she says. "But for me, it was. Even when I do get time, I always have to hurry up and talk. They look at their watch. It makes me feel awful. Sometimes I need them to stop thinking about their schedule and just be with me."
Provincial policy states that workers should meet with kids on independence every three months. But most in the know feel that's too little contact. Close to 25 per cent of youth between 14 and 17 have a brush with the courts or jail, at some point, says Frank Kennedy, head social worker for Peel CAS. And because they've been shuffled among foster homes, schools and guardians, they're not accustomed to stability or being responsible.
"They're very scared of the future," Kennedy says. "They're really anxious. It's a big step."
According to Sherry Mosko, director of Child and Youth Services for Toronto CAS, taking that step means overcoming a host of problems. Around 87 per cent of kids in care have special needs, 48 per cent have been diagnosed with mental illness and 36 per cent are in counselling.
Cree Dawson, 16, won't admit that moving out scares her, but she's already made plans to avoid it.
She told her foster parents, whom she calls mom and dad, that she won't be leaving at 18, when a third of Peel CAS youth move out of care or at least head out on their own. She has no plans to leave at 21, either.
It's not because she's opposed to growing up. When Dawson lived with her biological mom she would leave school early to pay bills, buy groceries, care for her younger brother. CAS took both kids out of an abusive home at 15 – they now live in separate foster homes on the same street.
Dawson's ahead of her peers in terms of budgeting, saving money and being independent. But in foster care, she's learning how to be a kid. She's taking her time to figure out what she's good at, what she wants to be. "All my peers are rushed to get to life," she says. "I'll get there when I get there."
Fragoso would love to have that luxury.
Even though he's graduated from care, he still calls his former worker every day. With a past riddled with drugs, jail and violence, he wishes he could go back in time and right his bad decisions. Maybe then the transition out of CAS wouldn't be almost as hard as being taken from his parents in the first place.
"The system is screwed up," he says. "I feel like ... what was my purpose?"
Convict was a foster father
Parent of kids once under his care upset by lack of notification
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(June 8, 2007) — When Jeanette Faro heard about the Greece man who had hundreds of sickening images of child pornography on his home computer, she thought she recognized his name.
She was right. Richard Philhower was a foster parent, and her children had been in his care between 2002 and 2004.
County officials confirmed Thursday that Philhower, 45, had been a certified foster care provider until October, when he was arrested.
Agents with the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Philhower, of 78 Brayton Road, on Oct. 18. A week earlier, they'd found more than 2,000 child pornography pictures and videos on his computer, according to an affidavit from ICE Senior Special Agent Brian Korzak.
Philhower claimed he had the pornography because "he was comparing how someone develops younger versus someone who develops older" and that he did not have pornography "for sexual gratification, but rather for 'knowledge,''' the affidavit stated.
Among the pornography, court papers state, was a 10-minute video of "what appears to be a prepubescent female" with an adult male and a photo of a female toddler, naked from the waist down, from a Web site that appears targeted at pedophiles.
"Monroe County's policy is to automatically revoke the certification of a foster parent when criminal activity is learned about involving children," said county spokesman John Durso.
Faro said Thursday that county officials didn't notify her of Philhower's arrest. She said she should have been told so she could talk to her children about his actions when they were in his care.
She said she wouldn't have known about his arrest had it not been for news coverage of his guilty plea Monday.
"It makes me wonder how many people don't know," said Faro, of Rochester.
County officials say, however, that they did try to notify Faro after Philhower's arrest in October. Also, they say, records show Philhower only had two foster children in his home, for a very short time in 2003.
They say only one child was Faro's, but she said her two young sons had been in his home for an extended period.
Faro claims that the county's effort to contact her — if they did so — must have been half-hearted at best. County officials Thursday were trying to determine whether they may have reached her, though she insists they didn't.
Faro said she voluntarily surrendered her children to foster care in 2002 because of troubles in her home. They now live with her, she said.
Philhower faces between five and 20 years in prison.
GCRAIG@DemocratandChronicle.com
The father is an upstanding, sober citizen. The drug-addled mother can't care for their children. Why is he being denied custody?
By MARK BONOKOSKI
TORONTO SUN NEWSPAPER
JUNE 19, 2007
http://www.torontosun.com/home.html
From the outside looking in, it was the perfect Father's Day weekend. The kids' eyes lit up when they heard they were going for a boat ride on the lake where their paternal grandparents ran a country store and inn.
The store had a candy counter, of course.
It was a kid's dream come true.
From there, it was off to a reunion of his father's side of the family. Lots of pop and hot dogs. Lots of cousins to play with. Lots of fun.
And then it was home to the Oshawa area, the kids fast asleep from the exhaustion that comes from burned energy and fresh air.
When their father dropped them off, however, it was not at their mother's house, even though the courts had once given her joint custody.
No, instead of dropping his children off at his ex-wife's house, he had to drop them off at the homes of their foster parents -- the oldest boy, at 13, going to one foster home, while the two youngest, his 10-year-old son and his 8-year-old daughter, having to go to another.
'BREAKS MY HEART'
"It breaks their heart, and it breaks my heart," the father says. "All I can tell them is to trust me ... that things will work out eventually.
"But what a nightmare."
The Durham Children's Aid had scooped his kids from their mother's custodial care and, from the outside looking in, social workers could not be criticized for their initial actions -- not by a long shot.
They had responded to a 911 call from one of the children. There was no food in the house, the child had said, and they were hungry.
When Durham Regional Police arrived, the children's mother had trouble talking coherently and negotiating the hallway.
Drug use was suspected.
Before the children's parents broke up, and later divorced, their mother was a pharmaceutical technician. Unfortunately, it also led to her allegedly treating each pharmacy as if it were its own kind of candy store.
It led to lost jobs for suspected theft of narcotics. It led to an addiction to prescription painkillers. And it led to her going into detox and rehab.
In rehab, she got knocked up by another patient.
That child, now 3, is also in foster care.
And that, in a nutshell, is all she wrote on this mother -- other than the impaired driving charge she is also facing, having blown into the balloon at 0.14, almost twice the legal limit, and all while driving on a suspended licence.
It would seem, however, that the Durham CAS is doing everything it can to give the children's mother more chances than she deserves to straighten out her life than it is willing to give the children's' father even one chance at trial custody.
STEADY JOB
And here is what he has to offer, as compared to the woman he divorced several years ago. He has a steady job that earns him $65,000-plus a year. He is married to a woman who holds an executive position as the general manager of a Holiday Inn and who wants, and has said so in writing, to be the stepmother of his children.
Unlike his ex-wife, the father has no substance abuse issues. He also has no criminal record, all which can be verified because, as a licensed aircraft mechanic, he has done high-level contract work for the American military, which had him checked out every-which-way but Sunday.
The reason the Durham Children's Aid is balking at giving him custody is as simple as its reasons are complex for siding with the drug-addicted mother who is now facing a drunk-driving charge.
The mother lives in Durham Region.
The father lives eight hours away, but those eight hours take him across the border into a small town in the northeastern United States.
He lives in a three-bedroom townhouse in what he describe as a "picture postcard town, with blue-ribbon schools." And he is employed by a subsidiary company of the Sikorsky helicopter corporation as manager of its composite shop, a job which had its beginnings in Toronto when it accepted an offer to do a contract job in West Virginia five years ago when his marriage tanked and his divorce was finalized.
No calls were made to the Durham CAS, by the by, for either confirmation or denial of the scenario presented here. The Privacy Act prevents the CAS from commenting on any specific case and, from past experience, the Privacy Act is also used as blanket to cover any and all controversy -- which is one reason Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin wants to oversee CAS operations province-wide.
But there is such a thing as court documents, and those in the Sun's possession paint a fairly clear picture.
Within the week, the lawyer representing the father of these children will be appearing before the Superior Court of Justice, yet again, in an attempt to persuade the judge to cut the father some slack.
By month's end, the children's school year will have ended and, rather than have them spend their summer in a foster home, he is seeking the court's permission to take them home to the States -- first for two weeks, then possibly for a month.
The childrens' mother, it should be noted, also remarried, but it was not to the man who made her pregnant while in drug rehab.
Unfortunately, this marriage, too, is reportedly ending in divorce.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• You can call Mark Bonokoski at (416) 947-2445 or e-mail at mark.bonokoski@tor.sunpub.com
Foster father admits sex crimes
By Natalie Singer
Seattle Times staff reporter
Enrique Fabregas lost his foster-care license in 2004.
previous complaints against foster father ignored
A former foster father who had sex with one girl and has been accused of abusing two other girls placed in his care by the state will face a standard sentencing range of 2½ to 3½ years in prison after he pleaded guilty Monday to reduced charges.
Enrique Fabregas, 53, of Redmond, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. He originally was charged in June with three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, which could have brought him seven to 10 years in prison.
Court documents allege that his former foster daughter, Estera Tamas, now 20, was sexually abused by Fabregas starting at age 13 or 14, and that she was bribed with cocaine and clothes to keep quiet. (The Seattle Times generally does not name victims of suspected sexual abuse, but Tamas agreed to be named.)
Police found numerous sexually explicit photographs of her in Fabregas' home, according to charging papers.
He also isolated his adopted daughter, now 13, from social contact, police said, keeping her home from school regularly, having her sleep in his bed and sexually assaulting her.
Another foster daughter, now 19, told police she was physically abused and saw video of Fabregas having sex with Tamas.
King County prosecutors could not charge Fabregas with the more serious crime of child rape because of statute-of-limitation issues, questions about how old Tamas was during the assaults, and concern about proof issues that could have arisen at trial, said Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Roger Rogoff.
King County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Dan Donohoe said Monday that despite reducing the charges against Fabregas, the deal was fair because "it would send him to prison. He's being held accountable at a felony level."
However, an attorney for the three victims — who filed a civil lawsuit in April against the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) for its alleged role in their long-running abuse — said he believes the agency bears partial blame for the reduction in charges.
"Because of DSHS' inability to get this to law enforcement many years ago, the statue of limitations for his crimes has passed," said attorney David P. Moody.
"DSHS did not protect the public interest when they didn't apprise law enforce of what this monster was up to."
DSHS records show that between 1996 and 2004 Fabregas was the subject of 25 complaints to the agency, eight of them alleging sexual abuse or exploitation.
But only one of those — failing to report there was a dog in the home — resulted in action against Fabregas.
It wasn't until a Redmond detective got a search warrant last year and found photographs and videos depicting child pornography and Tamas' abuse that the youngest girl, adopted in 1999, was removed. The two others, 18 and 19 at the time, had already been removed.
Although Fabregas claimed to DSHS to be free of criminal convictions, records show he had at least six convictions for crimes, including carrying a concealed weapon, theft and drug possession, before receiving his foster-care license.
Fabregas finally lost his foster-care license in 2004, after refusing to take a sexual-deviancy exam requested by DSHS.
He is scheduled to be sentenced at 1 p.m. June 29 before King County Superior Court Judge Richard Eadie.
Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Why wouldn't they let me be with my Dad?
http://www.ejfi.org/family/family-96.htm#dad
Nearly half of children in Crown care are medicated
MARGARET PHILIP
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
June 9, 2007 at 2:09 AM EDT
Psychotropic drugs are being prescribed to nearly half the Crown wards in a sample of Ontario children's aid societies, kindling fears that the agencies are overusing medication with the province's most vulnerable children.
According to government documents obtained by The Globe and Mail under Ontario's Freedom of Information Act, 47 per cent of the Crown wards – the children in permanent CAS care – at five randomly picked agencies were prescribed psychotropic drugs last year to treat depression, attention deficit disorder, anxiety and other mental-health problems. And, the wards are diagnosed and medicated far more often than are children in the general population.
“These children have lots of issues and the quickest and easiest way to deal with it is to put them on medication, but it doesn't really deal with the issues,” said child psychiatrist Dick Meen, clinical director of Kinark Child and Family Services, the largest children's mental health agency in Ontario.
“In this day and age, particularly in North America, there's a rush for quick fixes. And so a lot of kids, especially those that don't have parents, will get placed on medication in order to keep them under control.”
Related Articles
From the archives
Ritalin's reign
Doctor's orders
Psychiatric drugs and children are a contentious mix. New, safer drugs with fewer side effects are the salvation of some mentally ill children. But some drugs have not been scientifically tested for use on children, and recent research has linked children on antidepressants with a greater risk of suicide.
Yet the number of children taking these drugs keeps rising, even in the population at large.
Pharmacies dispensed 51 million prescriptions to Canadians for psychotropic medication last year, a 32-per-cent jump in just four years, according to pharmaceutical information company IMS Health Canada. Prescriptions sold for the class of antidepressants, including Ritalin, most prescribed to children to tackle such disorders as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rose more than 47 per cent, to 1.87 million last year; a new generation of antipsychotic medication increasingly prescribed to children nearly doubled in the same span, climbing 92 per cent to 8.7 million prescriptions.
And with close to half of Crown wards on psychotropic medication, their numbers are more than triple the rate of drug prescriptions for psychiatric problems among children in general.
With histories of abuse, neglect and loss, children in foster care often bear psychological scars unknown to most of their peers. But without a doting parent in their corner, they are open to hasty diagnoses and heavy-handed prescriptions. Oversight for administering the drugs and watching for side effects is left to often low-paid, inexperienced staff working in privately owned, loosely regulated group homes and to overburdened caseworkers legally bound to visit their charges only once every three months.
Unease over the number of medicated wards of the state is growing: This September, when provincial child advocates convene in Edmonton for their biannual meeting, the use of medication to manage the behaviour of foster children across Canada will be at the top of their agenda.
‘whole range of disorders'
Nowhere is concern greater than in Ontario, where the provincial government recently appointed a panel of experts to develop standards of care for administering drugs to children in foster care, group homes and detention centres.
The move was made after the high-profile case last year of a now-13-year-old boy in a group home outside Toronto came to light. The boy was saddled with four serious psychiatric diagnoses, including oppositional defiant disorder and Tourette syndrome, and doused daily with a cocktail of psychotropic drugs before his grandparents came to his rescue. Now living with his grandparents, he is free of diagnoses and drugs.
Marti McKay is the Toronto child psychologist who, when hired by the local CAS to assess the grandparents' capacity as guardians to the boy, discovered a child so chemically altered that his real character was clouded by the side effects of adult doses of drugs.
“There are lots of other kids like that,” said Dr. McKay, one of the experts on the government panel. “If you look at the group homes, it's close to 100 per cent of the kids who are on not just one drug, but on drug cocktails with multiple diagnoses.
“There are too many kids being diagnosed with…a whole range of disorders that are way out of proportion to the normal population. …It's just not reasonable to think the children in care would have such overrepresentation in these rather obscure disorders.”
The report from a government investigation into the case obtained by The Globe uncovered group home staff untrained in the use and side effects of the psychotropic drugs they were doling out; no requests from the psychiatrist to monitor the boy for problems, and little evidence of efforts to treat the boy's apparent mental-health issues other than with heavy-duty pharmaceuticals.
James Dubray, executive director of the Durham CAS where the boy was a Crown ward, acknowledges that the agency's monitoring of children on medication was lacking.
But it is no small feat, he said, for agencies like his to raise challenging children and adolescents – including some with behaviours so insufferable that their parents turn them over – when there is a chronic shortage of children's mental-health services across Canada and disruptive young people are stranded on waiting lists for psychiatrists and therapies for as long as a year.
With few specialists available, growing numbers of child-welfare workers are turning to family physicians, typically with next to no training in psychiatric disorders and no expertise in the new cutting-edge psychotropic drugs.
Are children being overmedicated out of expedience?
“I don't think that's an unfair conclusion,” Dr. Dubray allowed. “I find it hard to make a judgment. I just know we tend to see kids for which there are either no resources or their parents can't handle them.”
Behaviour management
For Judy Finlay, Ontario's chief child advocate, the use of psychotropic drugs is a burning issue.
Since the inquests into the deaths of a handful of troubled adolescents being forcibly restrained in group homes a few years ago – and the tougher regulations on the use of physical restraints that followed – she has observed a growing trend among group homes to turn to chemical restraints to control unruly behaviour.
These children have trauma and loss in their backgrounds and, as they grow older and foster parents can no longer tolerate their behaviour, they are moved to group homes operating on a culture of strict curfews and rules. Here, too often, troubled teenagers live in close quarters, staff turnover is rapid, police visits are not uncommon, and watching television is the usual pastime.
“It's more about behaviour management than it is about intervening into mental health issues,” Ms. Finlay said.
“It's the adolescents who are being given medication usually, and it's adolescents who are noncompliant. But they're supposed to be,” she added. “That's their job. So as adolescents grow and challenge the system or challenge staff, it's at that time that we begin to medicate them. They are going to be challenging, and medicating isn't the way to help them through adolescence.”
In fact, child psychiatrists and physicians say they face a tricky call when confronted with a tormented child or adolescent whose behaviour appears to be the symptom of a disorder that, if not treated with drugs and other therapies, will inevitably grow harder to tame.
The newer drugs are safer and backed by a growing stack of research, and physicians insist they allow some mentally ill children to function normally when nothing else works. Yet many drugs have never been tested on children by the pharmaceutical companies funding most of the research; have been studied for only short periods that fail to measure the impact of prolonged use; and are not formally approved to treat the condition being addressed.
“Just because it's safe and effective in adults doesn't mean it's safe and effective in a young person, and that's one of my concerns about the lack of research in young people,” said Stan Kutcher, a child psychiatrist and Sun Life Financial chair in adolescent mental health at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.
“Young people aren't little adults. They have different physiologies. They have different metabolisms. Their brains react differently. Their bodies react differently to drugs.”
And therein lies a “horrible conundrum” for doctors. “I'm uncomfortable with kids being really sick,” Dr. Kutcher said, “and I'm uncomfortable with the treatments that we have.”
The National Youth in Care Network, an advocacy group for young people raised in the child welfare system, is just completing a three-year study, funded by Health Canada, of psychotropic drug use among children and adolescents in care across the country.
The researchers have found that not only were psychotropic drugs prescribed to a clear majority of the current and former wards interviewed, but most were diagnosed with mental-health disorders by a family doctor, never visited a child psychiatrist or another doctor for a second opinion, and doubted the accuracy of their diagnosis.
A disturbing number, the network's research director, Yolanda Lambe, added, have traded the child-welfare system for a life on the street.
“A lot of people are using drugs now,” she said. “There's a lot of homeless young people who have been medicated quite heavily.”
'Jekyll and Hyde' CAS worker gets 2 years for gun smuggling
'Serious crime'
Peter Brieger
National Post
Saturday, October 28, 2006
A former Hamilton Children's Aid worker who smuggled guns into Canada received a two-year jail sentence yesterday, far less than the 10-year term prosecutors demanded.
Mr. Justice Brian Trafford rejected the Crown's portrayal of Sara Villella as a "merchant of death," saying the 27-year-old played a small role in the trafficking racket compared with her accomplices, who were supplying weapons to a notorious Scarborough street gang.
Judge Trafford concluded the woman -- whom he convicted on 14 drugs and gun charges earlier this year -- was a low-level decoy with no connection to gangs in the scheme masterminded by her former boyfriend and others.
Jude Hudson, the former boyfriend, who sold drugs in the United States to buy weapons for Toronto's Malvern Crew, received a 30-month prison term.
Three other conspirators received penalties ranging from a conditional sentence to seven years in prison.
The former social worker, who helped teenagers quit using drugs, can apply for parole in six months.
"Ms. Villella's role in this conspiracy is a serious crime," Judge Trafford told a Toronto courtroom
"She is an intelligent young woman who knowingly participated in a sophisticated scheme to import ... lethal firearms into Canada ... [a crime] undertaken purely for profit and without any regard for the tragic effect the use of firearms will have on the victims and society at large.
"[But] it is incorrect to conclude... that the role of Ms. Villella in the importation of firearms was equal, or superior, to the roles [of her accomplices]."
The judge added that Ms. Villella is "capable of making a meaningful contribution to our society through a law-abiding lifestyle."
But prosecutor Nevina Crisante described the woman as a crime kingpin at a sentencing hearing this month.
"She was leading a double-life," Ms. Crisante argued. "She had a chameleon-like ability to change her persona, not unlike Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."
Yesterday, lawyer Randall Barrs called that depiction of his client "ridiculous," saying the now-married woman -- free on bail since her arrest two years ago -- "got involved with the wrong guy."
"The Crown's characterization of her as a 'merchant of death' is very unfair and obviously the judge agreed," he told reporters outside the downtown courthouse.
"She wasn't a ringleader, she had no connection to any of the gangs.... Two years less two weeks is a substantial sentence for someone who has never really been to jail before.
"She made a very bad mistake and now she's paying the price for it."
Mr. Barrs said the woman's parents are "devastated" by their daughter's arrest and conviction -- the pair walked out of a nearby courthouse yesterday wearing sunglasses with coat hoods wrapped tightly around their heads to avoid television cameras.
Ms. Villella's legal troubles began on March 22, 2004, when she and two alleged gang members were arrested at the Detroit-Windsor border with 23 guns in their car.
Canadian customs officials found traces of cocaine on the woman's driver's licence and a note in her bra indicating 17 guns were earmarked for another member of the group and "eight to you."
The note, written by Mr. Hudson, did not prove Ms. Villella was going to sell the guns herself, Judge Trafford said, concluding instead it was a "selfish" move on Mr. Hudson's part to obscure his involvement in case of his arrest.
On the day of Ms. Villella's arrest, guards at the same border crossing stopped a car driven by a 62-year-old jazz musician associated with the conspirators. They found 23 guns in his trunk.
© National Post 2006
Ombudsman blasts province for using paid outsiders
Canadian Press
TORONTO - Ontario's ombudsman is blasting the Liberal government for circumventing his office and using paid outsiders to investigate public complaints.
Andre Marin says the government is "queasy'' about referring public complaints to his office, even when the province finds itself in a conflict of interest.
He says they prefer to hire outside experts because the government can retain control of the investigation and the results.
Marin says this costs taxpayers more because the province pays hefty bills rather than using the existing resources of his office.
Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter has hired an outside lawyer to investigate whether provincial police Commissioner Julian Fantino breached the Police Services Act when he wrote an e-mail to Caledonia politicians.
Marin says the government could have asked him to investigate the complaint, but chose to hire outsiders because it's less risky.
More....
Ombudsman blasts province for circumventing him, using paid outsiders instead
By CHINTA PUXLEY
TORONTO (CP) - The Liberal government is circumventing the ombudsman's office and squandering tax dollars by hiring outsiders to investigate public complaints because it wants to maintain control over the investigations, the province's ombudsman said Wednesday.
Andre Marin said the government is "queasy" about referring public complaints to his office - even when the province finds itself in a conflict of interest as it does with a current set of complaints against Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino.
Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter has hired an outside lawyer to investigate whether Fantino breached the province's Police Services Act when he wrote an e-mail to politicians in Caledonia, Ont., suggesting they were encouraging divisive rallies against the policing of the ongoing aboriginal occupation there.
The government could have asked him to investigate the complaint, Marin said, but instead often chooses to hire outsiders so it can dictate the scope of any investigation and retain some control over the results.
"You don't have that when you come to the ombudsman's office," Marin said in an interview. "You don't know where the ball's going to land because we don't accept scripted mandates.
"The government ... wants to be in the driver seat. From the government's perspective, the risk is much more contained when you go out and hire a contractor."
This method of investigation costs taxpayers more because the province shells out cash to contractors rather than using the existing resources of his office, Marin said.
"No doubt the office of the ombudsman is the most institutionally independent, most cost-effective investigative body around," he said.
"We have a proven track record, so why not go to the ombudsman? The government is queasy in these kinds of cases to relinquish control over the issue."
Kwinter said the Police Services Act dictates that his office handle any complaints against the commissioner, and he's chosen to seek outside advice because the e-mail sent in April presents a conflict of interest for members of his staff.
In the e-mail - which was copied to senior bureaucrats and staff in Kwinter's office - Fantino suggested he would back any lawsuit brought against the town of Caledonia and would not recommend that provincial police renew their contract to police the town if any of his officers were injured.
The e-mail, which was interpreted as a "threat" by Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer, prompted several formal complaints to Kwinter's office, sparking the investigation.
"I'm just getting advice," Kwinter said. "I have confidence in the commissioner, and unless I hear ... a valid reason that I should be concerned, I'll have to deal with that. I will make the decision but I want to make sure I have all of the facts."
Kwinter's office would not disclose how much the government is paying lawyer Rod McLeod for his advice, saying it falls under the protection of solicitor-client privilege.
But critics said they have more faith in the judgment of the ombudsman than in someone who is hired and paid by the government.
Conservative Leader John Tory said if the government finds itself in a conflict of interest investigating complaints like those prompted by Fantino's e-mail, the matter should be referred to the ombudsman.
"Any time you can, you should be using an office that you set up - namely the ombudsman, who is objective," Tory said. "You have to ask yourself when the government sends these things somewhere else, what other agenda do we have going?"
Hiring outsiders to investigate public complaints is a "regrettably widespread practice," said New Democrat Peter Kormos. The Liberals could have broken with tradition and referred the Fantino complaints to the ombudsman, he said.
"We have a government that wants to sweep this under the carpet," Kormos said, adding the investigation should have been concluded months ago.
"The concern now spreads beyond Fantino to concern about (Premier Dalton) McGuinty's inability to adequately respond to these serious allegations."
Cancer treatment 'worth every penny'
St. Catharines Standard (ON)
Fri 22 Jun 2007
Page: A3
Section: Local
Byline: PETER DOWNS
Part 19
The diagnostic scans will ultimately provide the proof.
One way or the other, the evidence should be there.
But Suzanne Aucoin believes she knows what the images will show.
She can feel it with each breath she takes.
The pressure on her lungs has lifted. And with it, the wheeze that had settled into each laboured breath.
The deep fatigue that came with the constant struggle for more air has also begun to subside.
All signs, Aucoin believes, that the large tumour on her liver has begun to shrink.
Signs the specialized radiation therapy she paid for at a U.S. hospital two weeks ago may already be working.
"I'm 99-per-cent sure they'll see shrinkage, just because I'm breathing better already," she said Thursday from the home in Port Dalhousie she shares with her parents.
"I'm a different person. I'm not anxious any more. I'm sleeping better. I can focus on other things now. I'm not having meltdowns every day."
Aucoin, 36, who has lived with terminal colon cancer for more than three years, travelled to a hospital in North Carolina two weeks ago to receive a specialized form of radiation therapy not commercially available in Ontario.
The procedure - selective internal radiation therapy or SIR-Spheres, delivers millions of microscopic spheres of radiation directly to liver tumours.
Conventional radiation therapy hits a general area of the body and can cause severe damage to nearby tissues and organs.
Aucoin's doctors have ruled out surgery and conventional radiation to try to reduce the size of the large tumour on the right side of her liver.
But as it grew, it began to push against her diaphragm, which in turn pushed against her lungs, causing breathing problems.
"I've never been that sick before. That's the worse my cancer has ever been, " Suzanne said of the weeks leading up to her cross-border medical journey.
Determined to get the liver tumour in check and prolong her life, Aucoin put her faith in the targeted radiation therapy.
With her parents - Norm and Janet - at her side, she underwent the procedure June 6 at WakeMed Heath Center in Raleigh, N.C.
Just hours after doctors injected the tiny spheres of radiation into the blood flowing to her liver, Aucoin believes she could feel it attacking the organ.
"Back at the hotel I decided to have a nap and when I lay down I went, 'Mom, I'm not wheezing anymore. I can breathe normally. Oh my God, it's working already," she said.
About 36 hours after the procedure she also began to feel sharp pain surrounding the liver - a symptom doctors told her to expect as portions of the tumour began dying off.
A CT scan in about two weeks is expected to show whether the tumour has begun to shrink.
The radiation can continue to cause shrinkage for as long as 10 months, Aucoin said.
Promising as it sounds, the specialized medical procedure is not cheap.
Aucoin said she expects to be billed $80,000 to $100,000 US for the radiation therapy and associated medical costs.
The tab will wipe out a trust fund generated for Aucoin through donations from friends and supporters.
But she's also hopeful Ontario's Health Ministry will pay some of her U.S. medical costs through its out-of-country health benefits program - a program being reviewed by the ministry after its mishandling of a previous funding application by Aucoin.
Earlier this year, Ontario's ombudsman blasted the Health Ministry for its mistreatment of Aucoin and its flawed out-of-country health-coverage program.
Acting on the ombudsman's recommendations, the ministry agreed to repay Aucoin about $76,000 she spent on the cancer drug Erbitux in New York state and Ontario, as well as the legal costs she racked up trying to recover her money.
The government also announced the review of its out-of-country drug-coverage program to make sure other patients don't get caught in the bureaucratic red tape that snagged Aucoin.
The review hasn't yet been completed.
Aucoin's Hamilton oncologist submitted an application for her to receive out- of-country OHIP coverage for the radiation therapy she received in North Carolina.
A ministry spokesman wasn't able to tell The Standard Thursday whether Ontario has paid for patients to get the procedure in the U.S.
But Aucoin said she's trying to focus mainly on her health, rather than worry about finances.
"The bills will come and we'll figure it out when they come in," she said. "I know I feel better than I did before the procedure and I know that it was a good decision.
"It was worth every penny."
© 2007 Osprey Media Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Idnumber: 200706220011
Length: 763 words
Fri, June 22, 2007
More family-like care pushedAdvocate urges regulatory body to oversee group homes
By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
TORONTO SUN NEWSPAPER
Children and adolescents under the care of Children's Aid societies need more family-like settings because they frequently face intolerant and disrespectful treatment in more institutional facilities, Ontario Child Advocate Judy Finlay says.
Her new report, We Are Your Sons and Daughters, calls on the province to create a regulatory body to enforce quality of care standards in residential facilities.
While many homes for children offer exceptional care, Finlay said her review found other places where youth were often reported to police for relatively minor behavioural problems and subjected to physical restraints, locked rooms, the removal of all possessions and body searches.
BITING AUDITOR'S REPORT
Finlay launched a review of three CAS organizations, in Toronto, Peel and Thunder Bay, following a critical provincial auditor's report that found staff leased luxury SUVs for themselves and made other dubious investments with taxpayer dollars meant for their charges.
At one group home, since closed by the government, child advocates found pornography posted on doors, feces under the bathtub and a 12-year-old boy with no legs placed in a second-floor room, Finlay said.
In polling conducted by the office of the child advocate, youngsters generally rated foster care settings much higher than group care, although some group facilities also rated well if they provided a more homelike setting.
Children and Youth Services Minister Mary Anne Chambers said the government is trying to provide more long-term, home-like settings across the province, she said.
"Not even one child should have to live in anything but the kind of setting that a good family setting should provide for them," she said.
Chambers said she'll review all of Findlay's recommendations.
ANTONELLA.ARTUSO@SUNMEDIA.CA
MEDIA ADVISORY – Ombudsman releases Annual Report
André Marin, Ombudsman of Ontario, will release his annual report for the 2006-2007
fiscal year at a press conference. The report reviews the accomplishments of the
Ombudsman’s Office in the past year and updates recent and ongoing investigations. It is
also a review of the government’s performance in service delivery in key areas.
When: Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Where: Media Studio
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Prior to the press conference, there will be a technical briefing for journalists where
embargoed copies of the Ombudsman’s report will be distributed. Senior staff of the
Ombudsman’s office will be available to answer questions on background.
Time: 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Where: Committee Room 228
2nd Floor, West Wing
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
-30-
For further information, please contact:
Barbara Theobalds
Media Relations Advisor
Tel: 416-586-3423
btheobalds@ombudsman.on.ca
or Linda Williamson
Manager, Communications and Media Relations
Tel: 416-586-3426
lwilliamson@ombudsman.on.ca
Ombudsman slams Ontario's ‘puffery'
TENILLE BONOGUORE
Globe and Mail Update
June 27, 2007 at 11:33 AM EDT
The Ontario government is rife with “puffery” as government departments promise the world, then fail to deliver, according to the second annual report of the provincial ombudsman.
Ontario Ombudsman André Marin on Wednesday lamented the “puffery” exposed by his scrutiny of the government, saying the litany of organizations make grandiose promises but don't follow through.
If that continues, it will undermine public confidence in its institutions, he warned.
“I was tempted to label this one ‘The Year of Over-promising and Under-delivering',” Mr. Marin said as he released his report.
Enlarge Image
Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin has slammed the province for making promises but failing to follow through. (CP)
Internet Links
The Ontario Ombudsman
“On the one hand, the actions of a ministry, agency, board or commission are decried as shabby or incompetent. On the other, the reaction from the organization is to sideline the issue and proclaim itself ‘world class', or an ‘international leader' — as if erecting a sign saying ‘I'm the best and the greatest' will assuage those who have suffered from neglect and maladministration.”
This is creating “legions of disillusioned citizens” who see what is “a disingenuous smokescreen”, he said.
The Ombudsman's 2006-2007 report reviewed many investigations into government systems and organizations that failed to deliver on public promises, regardless of what party was in charge.
That included the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, the Family Responsibility Office, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
“The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation bragged that it was a ‘global leader in property assessment' – until our investigation found it was actually an arrogant, cutthroat agency with little regard for homeowners,” Mr. Marin said.
Other bodies were “callously ignoring” the suffering of Ontarians, he said.
Still, the public response to his reports had been “phenomenal” and all recommendations made in those reviews have been accepted, Mr. Marin said.
Mr. Marin also praised the government for resolving several serious complaints, including reimbursing a cancer patient $76,000 in treatment costs and increasing funding for mental health services for children of soldiers killed or wounded in Afghanistan.
But he made particular note that crucial aspects of government remain out of the ombudsman's sight, despite the provincial watchdogs fighting for access for 30 years.
The ombudsman's office responded to more than 20,200 complaints in 2006-07.
Mr. Marin said 2,395 of those dealt with municipalities, universities, school boards, hospitals and long-term care facilities, police and children's aid societies.
Yet the Ombudsman has no powers to help them, Mr. Marin said.
“These areas consume the bulk of provincial budgets, and more importantly, they represent the most serious contacts that Ontarians can have with their government,” he said.
And the government had ignored opportunities to change that situation, he said, leaving thousands of Ontarians with no recourse to an independent, investigative body in “critically important” areas of their lives.
“Institutions that receive funds from the province to perform a public duty should be subject to the full panoply of checks and balances,” Mr. Marin said.
The Ombudsman will answer questions about the report from the public in an online chat on Thursday, June 28, at 1 p.m. To register, go to www.ombudsman.on.ca
National
Ontario government over-promises but underperforms: ombudsman
By KEITH LESLIE
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
TORONTO (CP) - The Ontario government’s credibility is "dying a slow death" because ministries and provincial agencies ignore problems and instead boast about their strong performances, Ombudsman Andre Marin said Wednesday.
Marin compared his report on government to report cards for students, and said even though he doesn’t usually title them, he was tempted to label this one "The Year of Over-promising and Under-delivering."
"Certainly, for lofty ambitions I would give them an A," Marin said after releasing his report. "But for actually delivering on those lofty ambitions I would give them a C."
The ombudsman said all too often, when a provincial ministry, agency or board is described as incompetent by the public, its reaction is to sideline the issue and proclaim itself as world-class or an international leader.
Ontario’s Municipal Property Assessment Corp. bragged that it was a "global leader" until Marin’s investigation called it "an arrogant, cutthroat agency with little regard for homeowners."
Marin said his office exposed similar "delusions" held by the Family Responsibility Office, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
He said they all presented a proud public face when in reality "they were callously ignoring the suffering of the very people that they were obligated to serve."
Marin also found some of the agencies have not responded well to special ombudsman’s reports issued over the past year.
"It reminded me of Muhammad Ali when he said, ’I’m the greatest and I said that even before I was,"’ he said.
"The difference is of course that he floated like a butterfly, and those Ontarians who’ve dealt with these agencies felt more like they dealt with a 10-pound brick than a butterfly."
Marin called the practice of over-promising and under-delivering "puffery," and said it undermines the public’s trust in government.
"If organizations fall into the trap of believing their own hype, they can become complacent and lose the urge for self-improvement," he wrote.
"Puffery can become a shield for inertia and apathy. If governments and their agencies believe they can hustle the public, they will be tempted to leave their programs under-resourced and flawed."
Marin also found myriad examples of "a rigid, unthinking adherence to pre-established rules" within government, even when their applications make little sense.
For example, a mother suffering from multiple sclerosis had her special diet allowance under the Ontario Disability Support Program slashed from $250 a month to $20 because her doctor failed to check off the right section on a form.
"Strict adherence to rules turned a minor error into a major health problem for this mother of three," Marin noted.
NDP critic Paul Ferreira said Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal government are directly to blame for the problems uncovered by the ombudsman.
"He is the premier that has over-promised and under-delivered, and the report today makes that abundantly clear," Ferreira said.
"Dalton McGuinty’s credibility gap has just expanded another mile."
In his annual report, Marin again said his office should have the power to investigate police, municipalities, universities, schools, hospitals and all other institutions funded by the provincial government.
"Ontario remains the only province in Canada where citizens cannot turn to their ombudsman if they have a problem with Children’s Aid societies," he wrote.
"The situation is similar for hospitals, long-term care facilities, school boards or police.
"This is a downright embarrassing situation for Ontario."
Marin will hold an online chat Thursday at 1 p.m. ET to answer questions from the public about his annual report. To register, go to www.ombudsman.on.ca.
Bravo for the Ontario Ombudsman. It is a shame that he cannot get oversight of Children's Aid Societies. He could really help in addressing various concerns that people have. That he is being barred from helping is an outrage. Politicians need to put peti politics aside and allow Mr. Marin to help the good people of Ontario, especially children.
Anne Patterson
Children's Aid needs reins: Dad; Says agency snubbed him before tots killed
The Toronto Sun
Thu 28 Jun 2007
Page: 8
Section: News
Byline: BY ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
The father of two youngsters whose mother has been charged in their deaths says he had nowhere to turn when the Children's Aid Society rejected his concerns for their safety.
Leonardo Campione, whose daughters Serena, 3, and Sophia, 1, were found drowned in a bathtub in a Barrie apartment last October, is supporting Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin's call for the power to investigate the CAS.
"Apparently it's only Ontario and Newfoundland out of all the provinces where the ombudsman office does not have any oversight over the CAS," Campione said. "Outside of legal action, I had nowhere else to go to except the ombudsman office.
"The CAS had assured me many times about the safety of my children ... they would retaliate and almost threaten me that I had to cooperate with them fully and unconditionally, no matter what my concerns were," said Campione, who attended the official release of the ombudsman's annual report yesterday.
Marin said the CAS and other government-funded organizations, such as hospitals, boards of education, nursing homes and universities, should be subject to the independent scrutiny brought by his office.
Marin said Ontario lags behind all other provinces in this regard. "This is a downright embarrassing situation for Ontario."
The Ontario government would have to give Marin those oversight powers.
Marin's annual report notes his office responded to 20,200 complaints in 2006-07, of which 2,395 involved public agencies beyond his current mandate. There were 600 complaints about the CAS and another 180 complaints about hospitals.
Marin's office has conducted several high-profile investigations, including the stunning revelations of insider wins at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., "cutthroat" tactics at the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. and callous disregard for crime victims at the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.
These findings of "neglect and maladministration" countered claims by the organizations that they offered world-class services, he said.
Marin said he was tempted to label his report "The Year of Overpromising and Underdelivering."
Marin said he's seen improvements in the efforts of some bureaucrats to find creative solutions to problems involving the public and he praised the government's willingness to respond to his recommendations.
Premier Dalton McGuinty, speaking before the delivery of the report, said he welcomes the input of the ombudsman.
"I think he's doing a good job," he said. "His job is not to lend comfort to me and to the government or any government of the day. His job is to expose areas where we're coming up short."
COMPLAINT LIST
Complaints to the ombudsman in which office could help:
- One man seeking assistance with wife's $350- to $400-a-month drug costs not approved because his teen girls didn't have social insurance numbers.
- Leg amputee forced to pay $96 a month out of the $116 he had left after expenses to pay community-based agency for transportation for treatment.
- A mother of three with multiple sclerosis lost 12 pounds in six months after government slashed her special diet allowance to $20 from $250 per month.
- A man spent nine frustrating months trying in vain to have the Office of the Registrar General correct a mistake that gave him a female middle name.
- Female jail inmates were exposed to the smell of raw sewage accidentally pumped in, although guards were given masks.
Complaints about agencies not covered by the ombudsman:
- Woman kept waiting in emergency room bed for a week for treatment, then transferred to another facility without forwarding her medical file.
- A mother of a girl with anxiety disorder struggled for over six months with school board to arrange tutor.
- A police widow complained of inadequate action by police after her husband died outside station.
- Two families of children who died under CAS care complained of inadequate supervision.
© 2007 Sun Media Corporation. All rights reserved.
Printed from www.thebarrieexaminer.com web site Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - © 2007 The Barrie Examiner
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Give Marin wider scope
Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 07:00
Editorial - Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin is a passionate and highly successful hunter of bureaucrats gone wild.
Now the ombudsman wants a licence to travel further afield.
Premier Dalton McGuinty says Marin is doing a fine job, but isn't interested in turning him loose on Ontario's hospitals, universities, school boards and municipalities.
Marin is brash to the point of being boastful in presenting his demands. He is also rational, precise and compelling. He makes three unassailable arguments for expanding the scope of his work on behalf of Ontario residents who feel they have been betrayed, shortchanged or brushed off by government officials who are supposed to be working on their behalf.
First, he has been successful. When the pressure from years of complaints about the Municipal Property Assessment Corp., and its handling of property tax issues, became too great to be ignored any longer, McGuinty called in Marin to investigate.
The result was a public flaying of MPAC, a temporary freeze on new property assessments and a commitment that the organization would change its tyrannical ways.
Marin has had similar success when his office investigated wrongdoing on its own. His report on the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. uncovered the insider prize-cashing scandal and led to a criminal investigation.
Second, his office gets large numbers of complaints about organizations he can't touch. Among them were 1,450 complaints directed at municipalities, school boards and police forces.
Third, Ontario trails the rest of the country when it comes to providing the protection of an ombudsman to its citizens.
Marin wants to add seven jurisdictions to his area of responsibility: boards of education, child protection services like the Children's Aid Society, hospitals, nursing homes, municipalities, the police complaints system and universities.
In his annual report, Marin dismisses several rationalizations he has heard for not broadening the scope of his office and delivers his own typically blunt assessment: "I am reluctant to appear cynical, but it seems the real reason for all this is self-interest . . . If you and those who report to you have been permitted to do your work without someone looking over your shoulder, why would you want to change that?"
Premier McGuinty's response to Marin's campaign has been, if not self-serving, weak and patronizing.
"His job is to expose areas where we've been coming up short, and, I think he's been pretty effective at that," the premier said. "I think we've been pretty effective at responding to him."
Marin has been much more than "pretty effective." And "coming up short" hardly describes the seriousness of the problems he has uncovered.
The ombudsman should be given the authority to be equally effective on behalf of Ontario residents who aren't happy with the way they are treated by those seven other levels of government.
Osprey News
Ombudsman needs powers
The Ottawa Sun
Thu 05 Jul 2007
Page: 15
Section: Editorial/Opinion
Byline: BY ALLAN CUTLER
Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin stated in his annual report that his goal was to put his office on the map as a model of excellence in effective oversight. He has succeeded, probably beyond expectations.
Marin should be congratulated for making the office more effective.
He was, by Premier Dalton McGuinty: "(Marin's) doing a good job. His job is not to lend comfort to me and to the government or any government of the day. His job is to expose areas where we're coming up short."
McGuinty added, in Marin's report, that "the fact of the matter is that this stuff needs to be brought into the light of day."
Has anyone else noticed the apparent contradiction between McGuinty's words and his actions?
Marin criticized the McGuinty government for circumventing his office. Instead, outsiders are paid to investigate public complaints. The government maintains control of investigations and can cover up the results. As Marin pointed out, this costs taxpayers more money. Preferred consultants charge higher fees than the ombudsman's paid staff.
Marin's office received 20,226 complaints in the last year -- 12,979 within the ombudsman's jurisdiction and 7,247 outside the mandate. It's both welcome and worrying.
It is welcome in that Marin and his office are able to help so many people. It is worrying that there are so many who need to be helped.
Marin doesn't mince words. He feels his authority should be expanded.
The ombudsman has been denied oversight authority in the MUSH sector -- municipalities, universities, school boards and hospitals.
Of particular concern is the child-protection area where, Marin says, "the government has clearly chosen to keep this zone immune from ombudsman oversight."
Ontario also lags behind other provinces (we are hearing this more and more) with regard to the ombudsman's reach.
It's the only province that has not expanded the ombudsman office's oversight powers to the MUSH sector.
Marin's office exposed a litany of problems at several agencies, including the lottery corporation, as well as agencies that assess residential property values and claims from crime victims.
Imagine what could be accomplished if Marin were allowed to look at other institutions.
To quote Marin, "Big Brother has his hand firmly planted in our back pocket. Government revenues are his lifeline, unaccountability his refuge."
Marin says the agencies investigated by his office shared a common trait: The use of "puffery" -- over-promising and under-delivering.
The provincial bureaucracy is obviously taking its lead from its political masters. Puffery is a trait in some politicians, regardless of their stripe.
Finally, Marin gives us something important to think about. In reference to the government and agencies, he says: "When there is a gulf between promises and delivery, when promises are broken, it matters. Public trust, the necessary currency of good government, is squandered."
Check out my dedication to Andre Marin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy14xwCEvJE
CHAMBERS OUT!!
Chambers announces decision to not run, applauds new candidate
Canada News-Wire
Wed 11 Jul 2007
Dateline: SCARBOROUGH, ON, July 11
Time: 10:50 (Eastern Time)
Youth Opportunities Strategy, Expansion of child care spaces, increased
support for autism services among highlights for Chambers
SCARBOROUGH, ON, July 11 /CNW/ - Scarborough East MPP Mary Anne Chambers announced today she will not be running in the upcoming provincial election and introduced candidate Margarett Best for the riding of Scarborough Guildwood.
"This has been a very difficult decision to make. I have worked hard to serve my constituents and the children and youth of Ontario," said Chambers.
Chambers' decision was based on her recognition of the need to slow down for her personal health.
"I am happy to have contributed to the significant improvements that our government has made in areas that are so important to the quality of life that we have in this wonderful province. We have increased funding for children's mental health services, bringing an end to a 12 year funding freeze. We have tripled funding for autism services and eliminated the age cut off for children requiring intensive behaviour intervention (IBI) treatment, and provided investments that will benefit 7,000 more children with complex special needs."
"I want to thank Mary Anne for her strong commitment to public service and wish her well," said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. "Mary Anne worked tirelessly for the most vulnerable with passion. She was the driving force behind the creation of our government's Youth Opportunities Strategy which is providing opportunities to young people and so that they can reach their true potential. She oversaw the Ontario Child Benefit which is helping 1.3 million kids living in poverty and expanded quality, affordable childcare for families. She will be missed. I am pleased to welcome Margarett Best as our candidate in Scarborough Guildwood this fall and wish her well in carrying on Mary Anne's legacy."
Chambers was elected in October 2003 and immediately named to Cabinet. As Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities she oversaw the largest multi- year investment in postsecondary education in 40 years, including the creation of tuition grants and other improvements to the Ontario Student Assistance program (OSAP). Under her leadership, the Ontario government made significant changes to strengthen the Private Career Colleges Act, and launched a review of regulatory practices which later led to the passage of the Fair Access to the Regulated Professions Act for internationally trained individuals.
Since her appointment as Minister of Children and Youth Services in June 2005, Chambers has created training and employment opportunities for thousands of youth from underserved communities; created legislation to establish the first regulatory College for Early Childhood Educators in North America, led the creation of 22,000 new licensed child care spaces and improved access to subsidies; strengthened accountability and provided more opportunities for children in need of protection to have permanent, caring homes; led the passage of legislation for the establishment of an Independent Child Advocate.
Chambers will continue her work as MPP for Scarborough East and Minister of Children and Youth Services until the October election.
Best, a lawyer and columnist, has been a longtime community activist, working with a variety of groups including business and community associations during her over 20 years of volunteer service in Ontario. She is comfortable teaching leadership skills to young people, participating in the Scarborough Youth Career Fair, on the Ontario Provincial Police Advisory Committee on diversity issues, as well as participating as a volunteer and fundraiser for various community organizations.
Though the nomination date has yet to be set, Best has received unanimous support from the riding executive.
"Minister Chambers is an inspiration to me. She has been an excellent example and a role model for many. I look forward to following in her footsteps in serving the people of Scarborough, and continuing the work of Premier McGuinty's Liberals for all Ontario families in education, health care, the environment, and in strengthening our communities," said Best.
© 2007 CNW Group Ltd.
Do not forget Jeffrey in the Ontario election, and please do not forget why oversight is needed with the CAS.
I've always known this....that's why after many complaints it recently became compulsory & adopted into CAS procedures to have MANDATORY background checks done on foster families. I believe they still need to take it a step further & make it a "licensed" process with applicable law enforcement for breaches.
As for the auditor general's report...I've known about the CAS's funding formula for years. While is seems contradictory that more children in care would mean more financial burden...not if you cut corners. More children in care means viable reason to demand a bigger chunk of the pie....it's FACT that the CAS is financially rewarded for each active casefile & tantamount to proof of job security for all sectors including the family courts. They work in cooperation with one another. This is paramount to collusion...because it's an identifiable combined, cooperative effort. Inexcusabley open to corruption & abuse of power...discrimination by virtue of attitude or other means. It's more than an analogy that it's equivalent to "child trafficking"...each child is a profitable commodity.
Holly Schlaack applies her professional knowledge as a guardian ad litem to powerfully deliver data on the crises facing young foster kids and what all of us can do about it. I enjoyed her book, Invisible Kids, (www.InvisibleKidsTheBook.com).
The writer of jeffreyslawnow.blogspot.com has written a superior article. I got your point and there is nothing to argue about. It is like the following universal truth that you can not disagree with: Any group of geeks will find something to discuss that is of no interest to anyone else yet seems to be universally interesting to them. I will be back.
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