Thursday, March 17, 2005

Investigation of Child Deaths & Injuries

- Debate in the Legislature

INVESTIGATION OF CHILD DEATHS AND INJURIES
J. MacPhail: Can the Minister of Children and
Family Development tell us how many children
known to the ministry have died or been injured
since they fired the independent watchdogs?

Can the Minister of Children and Family Development
tell us how many children known to the ministry have
died or been injured since they fired the independent
watchdogs?

Hon. S. Hagen: We are committed to keeping B.C.'s children
safe. We're committed to keeping families together,
but at the end of the day, a child's safety always takes
precedence over everything else.

J. MacPhail: By the minister's own information, the
number of fatalities of children in care rose from the
last year reported from the previous year. They rose
by 33 percent. So I don't know what the minister was
just doing to this House when he made that statement.

Hon. S. Hagen: I also want to remind the House that
we currently have 9,000 children in care, which is
15 percent less than what we had in 2001. That's a stark
contrast to the 45 percent rise in the number of children
in care between '95 and '01.
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BC Coroner's Child and Youth Death Statistics
1999 to 2003

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