During this provincial election season, allow me to pose a question I believe important to many citizens who seek the best interests of vulnerable children.
In British Columbia, the NDP were last in power from 1991 to 2001.
I worked in child protection from 1986 to 1998, both as a front line child protection worker and supervisor. Unfortunately provision of quality child protection services is not a high priority of any government in Canada including the B.C. Liberals.
However it was my firsthand experience that administration of child protection services under the NDP was absolutely brutal. The NDP as a party lacked a thoughtful, cohesive philosophical approach to provision of these services. In this timeframe, ministers, their deputies and their friends meddled in child protection and acted on their personal agendas rather than a careful thought-out strategy.
Furthermore many within the NDP simplistically blamed the system for its inability to quickly resolve complex, long-term social problems.
The consequence of these inputs was a confused, paralyzed child protection system. And a litany of children were either seriously harmed or killed by their caregivers because the system did not respond to their need for protection in an effective manner.
When children need the protective services of the state and the system fails to respond because of political agendas, that is an immoral travesty.
Ultimately, following the decade long NDP debacle into child protection, the pain continued, as there was a counter swing with thousands of children being taken into government care who likely should not have been. The irony is that provision of quality child protection services is likely a priority for NDP governments. Yet they have fumbled badly when given the chance. Even worse than the B.C. NDP experience was that of the Manitoba NDP, which was many times worse.
For those who wish further background to both these histories I reference Judge Brian Giesbrecht who wrote of the Manitoba experience in The End of Silence. And Judge Tom Gove who wrote the Gove inquiry into child protection in British Columbia.
So my question is what is different today? I would suggest nothing is different. Whether mental health, addiction or child protection services, the NDP continue to lack a comprehensive, thoughtful strategy. I promise you that should the NDP be given power, the debacle will continue and vulnerable children and their families harmed.
Rolf van Driesum
Prince George
