The mainstream media's coverage of the Section 4 Review in Regard to the Death of Gage Guimond had many holes indeed.
Some MSM sympathisers have said "The news needs to be fresh. This is old. They need to move on". Maybe.
However, combine that notion with the calculated sunny Friday timing of the release and the Monday morning redirection by the NDP and you have a classic smokescreen.
The release of the damning report came early Friday July 18. Morning talk show hosts had likely already done their show prep and were set to go on air when the 109 page review hit the desk. What to do? Scan through the report and try to get some info out to the people and maybe get some CFS or Government reps on the air to respond. Uhm, nobody's available until at least the afternoon. Niiiice.
Richard Cloutier on CJOB did dig into some of the horrific findings of the review and did a good job on short notice. However, one would figure the NDP was aware that many Manitobans had their attention on the sunny weekend ahead. The government could just ride this one out. (By Monday, the NDP had the MSM trek out to Sagkeeng to cover a 'new' story about the squalor in which people there are living. Like that's news. )
We did hear trumpeting about 88 recommendations - albeit obvious common sense. Other notes that were reported -- but under-reported -- include:
- How Sagkeeng CFS had a "lack of respect for Gage's medical condition and that a qualified medical practitioner recommended a smoke free environment for him. The Agency was aware of Gage's asthma; while the worker refused to go inside because of the strong feline odour, the Agency did not take steps to address this issue..."
- Gage's longtime foster parents developed a rocky relationship with SCFS as the foster parents started to question the Agency's plan for the children. The review says "It resulted in the children being placed with other family members who had no relationship with the children ".
- The review uncovered a "lack of adherence to standards" when he was removed from the stable foster home into unsafe environments. In one case the boy was placed in a home where no criminal or child abuse registry check was conducted.
- The review also found conflict of interest among staff involved in Gage's case, such as hiring unqualified family members and ignoring of concerns raised to management .
But we will look at the inner workings of SCFS- much that went totally under the radar.
* The conflict of interest as mentioned above; more details are needed. The former Executive Director had a hand in appointing his own supervisors (Board of Directors). This Board often let the ED call the shots "without further discussion", nor did the board monitor the ED's work.
* The ED created a Paralegal/Computer Tech position at the Agency, seemingly for the sole purpose of hiring his close relative. There was no evidence the position was advertised prior to the hiring.
* When word of the review came "Agency Management was advised by the Southern Authority to secure all files associated with the case. During the course of staff interviews, it was found that staff involved with the case was instructed, after Gage's death, to complete all documentation for the files in preparation for review".
* Staff told the reviewers that "the Executive Director had instructed staff not to co-operate with the Southern Authority" during the review.
* SCFS was unhappy with the review, stating in a letter to the Southern Authority; "It is quite disturbing that one staff member is being targeted for the misfortunate (sic) that has occurred....The agency is in constant scrutiny by the Southern Authority, the agency has to question what is the ulterior motivate (sic) in this continuous questioning."
* Staff who questioned the qualification of some hired- meaning ED's close relative- were labelled "complainers" and railroaded out.
* ED ordered finance to pay for the tuition of his close relative for the University of Manitoba BSW cohort training. This, while other staff were led to believe tuition would be covered- then it wasn't.
* This close relative of ED was not qualified to do home assessments. He was, in fact, found to be doing them despite ED's denial to the Southern Authority. This close relative was "assigned to do home assessment of the placements used for Gage"
* SCFS salaries were found to be higher than other agencies.
* Should we get into the $45,000 dollar Calgary retreat? The one that the qualified staff were on in July of 2007 when Gage died?
"Staff advised that while in Calgary, they listened to a couple of speakers, played games and went shopping. There was no conference or other venue going on in Calgary that the Agency was participating in."
Can anyone say 'Stampede' ?
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With all this mess, is a list of common sense recommendations and a few human resource outstings enough to solve this grotesque problem? Or- does the CFS system need to be torn down and rebuilt without the influence of political correctness.
The Great Canadian Talk Show, the alternative media and the public at large are waiting for Family Services Minister Gord Mackintosh to respond.
We'll have Part 2 of our look at the Guimond report next week with Captain Audio. If you have any experiences with any Manitoba CFS agency or the government family Services department to share you can contact us in confidence - talk@kick.fm.
