An Update on the Foster Child and Alberta Director's Contempt of Court Case.

UPDATE MARCH 5, 2010 5:11 PM - GOOD NEWS.  I have just been contacted by the Deputy Minister of Alberta Children and Youth Services who advised that they are not appealing the Guardianship Order of the Foster Mother as stated in this blog.  I understood from earlier communications that the department intended to appeal.  If the facts about the appeal intentions of the department are in accurate in this blog post I owe both Children and Youth Services and the Foster Mother an apology.  I hope they both consider this factual update to correct the record an appropriate apology.  I am going to correct the content of this blog post to refect this update from the department by overstriking the irrelevant commentary and incorrect facts according to Children and Youth Services advice to me.

For those of you who follow this blog on a regular basis (and I thank you) you will recall I did a series of posts on problems in the Alberta Department of Children and Youth Services last summer. I centered the series on a Contempt of Court finding against a Director level official in department over a foster child and the impact and implications for the child. I am writing this post as an update on the case but first let me put you back in context.


I have to be careful in writing about the case to ensure the parties are not identified due to privacy concerns for the child at the centre of the case. I also wrote the series about the Foster Mother who was a champion for the child to stay with her. She took court action to that end and won in spite of the contrary and rejected recommendations of the government.

The attitude and actions of those in control of these matters in the Department of Children and Youth Services were criticized by the Court of Appeal. The former Minister launched an external review of how these matters were handled and I was interviewed by the external reviewers as part of their work. One of the things I said to the review committee was I believed there may a destructive culture in the senior levels of the department if this case was an example that could be generalized.

My impression was garnered from reading the Court files, background documents, as well as considering the actions of senior management involved in this case and the attitudes expressed in their communications from the department. My sense was that senior management was more interested in protecting the Minister from political ramifications than it was in serving its duty to represent the best interest of children in care. I pointed this impression out to the review committee and asked them to be aware of this possibility in their work and in their reporting.

Now for the update! It is timely given the death of a 21 month old little girl in foster care in Morinville this week but that is another story and perhaps for another time. Since the blog series last summer the Foster Mother who went to bat for this little boy has contacted me directly and kept me posted on developments. I will still have to be careful not to disclose identities but I can tell you as part of the original court process there were competing interests vying to take care of this child. The Foster Mother applied for Guardianship. Others, with a competing interest in the child and who had temporary custody granted from the lower court, had also applied to adopt the child. I can tell you the child is aboriginal and so cultural issues arise as well as caring, safety and other best interests’ issues.

I have just been advised by the Foster Mother there is good news.  The good news is her application to the Courts for Guardianship of the child was granted. The Adoption petition of the others was denied, in fact the other party’s request for continuing contact with the child was also denied. In addition the Foster Mother was awarded all her costs in the matter to be paid by the Director of Child, Youth and Family Enhancement. The Foster Mother was granted a similar order by the Court of Appeal to have all her costs paid in the original action. That means she not only won on the merits based on the law, the award of total costs is a major victory on the equity of the situation.

Now for the bad news! It seems as though the Director of Child, Youth and Family Enhancement intends to appeal the Guardianship Order and rejection of the Petition for Adoption. This department has lost at every instance and issue on this matter every time except for the first trial and that decision was a travesty of justice in my opinion. So this Foster Mother has to continue to fund and fight if the Director follows through with the threat to appeal.

The arrogance of this approach by the Department of Children and Youth Services is breath taking. How much abuse must this Foster Mother endure and how much uncertainty must this child suffer? How is this abuse of power by our government serving the best interests of this child? If the department can’t get it right the first time given all the power and resources they have at their disposal, what justifies them to continue to persecute and pursue this family? Please tell me it is not political or bullying and intimidation of citizens and at-risk vulnerable citizens as we are seeing in other areas like PDD funding.

When a child in care dies it is a tragedy. When a child in care becomes a pawn of in an unnecessary nightmare of administrative insouciance and insensitivity it is still a tragedy that can last a lifetime for this already vulnerable little boy. Minister Fritz, you were was given this portfolio to fix up this department. You obviously have a lot of work to do. Call off the departmental dogs in this case and so get that departmental review fast-tracked and made public as soon as possible.

I have just done a conjoint study amongst progressive thinking Albertans on the values they want to see applied by our government when it makes laws, policy and other decisions that impact the lives of citizens. Those Albertans told us they mostly wanted integrity, honesty, accountability and transparency from their government. It is time to start delivering on these values Madame Minister. This case is an appropriate place to start to change the culture of your department and to start to show that you will reflect those core values of Albertans.

UPDATE AND CORRECTION MARCH 5, 2010:

THIS BLOG POST HAS BEEN EDITED TO CORRECT AN APPARENT ERROR OF FACT THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA INTENDED TO APPEAL THE RECENT SUCCESSFUL GUARDIANSHIP ORDER GRANTED TO THE FOSTER MOTHER OF THIS CHILD.  I HAVE BEEN INFORMED BY THE DEPARTMETN YTHAT THIS IS NOT THE CASE.  I WISH TO APOLOGIZE TO THE MINISTRY OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES AND THE FOSTER MOTHER TOO IF I MISUNDERSTOOD THE FACTS AROUND AN INTENTION OF THE GOVERNMENT TO APPEAL THIS RECENT COURT DECISION.

An Olympic Thank You Note From NBC

I did not have time to watch much of the Olympics, even missed the Gold Medal hockey game because I was driving home from Reboot2.0.  What a saw was an astonishing Opening Ceremonies and with it the gift of poetry and humanity and being Canadian that is Shane Koyczen.  Then the magnificence of k.d. lang interpreting Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah as only she can do.

What I saw in the Closing Ceremonies was that classic unmistakable Canadian understatement of patriotism as we poked fun at our foibles.  The fun of the flame lighting fiasco of the Opening Cermonies finally being fixed and still celebrated was quintessential Canadian.  Then the self-depricating fun of the parade of Canadian stereotypes from moose to Mounties all the way to beavers and beer and beyond.  In typical Canadian fashion we did ourselves proud by being humble.  That Canadian quality of quiet deep pride was shown as we stayed humble and reserved while setting a new host country record 14 of gold medals relieved from our  collective self-consciousness as being the only host country ever to not win a single gold medal pre-Vancouver. 

What sparked this post was an e-mail I received form a friend enclosing a closing comment from Brian Williams of the NBC, the American Olympic broadcaster.  Canadians don't seek or need external validation to know and love who we are, but it is always nice to get recognized, especially in a way that resonates with us.  Here is what Brian Williams said about us and our hosting of the world at the Vancouver Olympics:

Leaving behind a thank-you note



Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor
to-night's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.


Thank you, Canada:


For being such good hosts.


For your unfailing courtesy.


For your (mostly) beautiful weather.


For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.


For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.


For your unique TV commercials -- for companies like Tim Hortons -- which made us laugh and cry.


For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.


For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games -- you've made wearing your name a cool thing to do.


For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.


For not honking your horns. I didn't hear one car horn in 15 days -- which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.


For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.


For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.


For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.


For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.


For always saying nice things about the United States...when you know we're listening.


For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.


For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.


Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

So my fellow Canadians, next time you visit a Chapters bookstore and you see the sentiment on the wall, "The world needs more Canada" reflect for a moment and know it is true.

Is There a Wave of Change Coming to Alberta's Politics?

REBOOTALBERTA 2.0 GOES THIS WEEKEND FEB 26-28 IN KANANASKIS


The gathering of Alberta progressives called RebootAlberta2.0 is happening in Kananaskis this weekend. The instigators expect to draw over 120 progressive thinking Albertans together to talk about how they feel about Alberta and its future.

Reboot Alberta is an emerging citizen’s movement that is focusing on four theme streams of interest. Some Reboot progressives believe a new centrist political party has to be formed to respond to the dramatic shift to the right of Alberta’s political culture. Others are committed to changing the existing political parties and governing institutions from within to consider more progressive approaches to policy making. Still others want democratic and electoral reform in Alberta. Then there is a large group of Reboot people who are part of volunteer based, not-for-profit civil society organizations who want to look at changing the very nature of Alberta’s political culture.

The civil society people at Reboot want to move beyond old-fashioned adversarial decision models at makes marginal winners and disgruntled loser. The feel we need a more collaborative, networked, integrated and responsible decision making model for public policy.

Reboot2.0 is essentially about creating more citizen engagement. It will see all of these approaches used by participants to look at what can be done to enable and encourage citizens to be engaged in public policy design and development. The already engaged citizens of the civil society sector are going to be a strong basis to work with to start changing the Alberta political culture. All change starts with a thought and a conversation and Reboot2.0 will be all about people taking about what they are thinking about.

In a resent conjoint survey of 544 self identified Alberta progressives identified some major values they wanted law and policy makers to use when decisions are being made that affect people’s lives. The top five values progressive Albertans want to see used to drive and guide public policy are Integrity, Honest, Accountability, Transparency and Environmental Stewardship.

It is interesting that such fundamental values are top of mind for progressive Albertans. Is that because they are so fundamentally necessary for a strong democracy? Or is it because progressives feel they are missing from our democracy and governance that they need to be reaffirmed? Reboot2.0 people will no doubt spend some time to clarify that difference.

Another interesting finding from the Citizen’s Values Survey was the level of Influentials and Cultural Creatives who participated in the survey and in Reboot Alberta. Influentials are that group of people whose opinions are sought out and respected. They are trend spotters, trend setters and opinion leaders. Influentials are community activists and engaged citizens. They have large and active personal networks and help others decide many things, include who to vote for.

Influentials make up about 10% of the general population but 88% of those who answered the Reboot Citizen’s Value Survey were Influentials. These are people who can make a difference and set trends and a very large portion of the Reboot community is Influential.

The other interesting survey result was around the Cultural Creatives. These are the people who work and live in creative endeavours. They are not just artists, but include people architects, lawyers, writers, educators, media-types and anyone else who works with their imagination and design skills. They have been studied by Paul Ray since the mid 1990s when about 23% of the American population fit the description.  He wrote a very interesting book called The Cultural Creatives that I recommend you read.

Updated research found that this Culture Creative group has grown to about 43% of the American population. These are the people who create and thrive in the information, knowledge and cultural industries economy. The Reboot Alberta Citizen’s Values Survey found that 86% of participants met the criteria for Cultural Creatives.

There were 76% of the Reboot Alberta Citizen’s Values Survey participants who are both Influential and Cultural Creatives. Measuring their interests and levels of engagement saw that 87% of them wanted politics and government resources to have more emphasis on children’s education, well-being and on rebuilding neighborhoods and communities. Around 80% of them volunteer for one or more good causes and place a great deal of importance on developing and maintaining relationships.

So with this as a base and the growing concerns about the direction Alberta is heading economically, environmentally, socially and politically, Reboot Alberta is tapping into some fear, uncertainty and doubt progressives are expressing about the future of the Province. So far Reboot Alberta has been about conversations but, as one person said at the first Reboot Alberta gathering, “Conversations are game-changers.”

Time will tell but there is a sense that a wave of change is coming to Alberta politics. If that is the case the next vital question is what will that wave of change do to the political landscape of Alberta? Will it go far right and be like a little Republican Alberta? Or will the Influential, Cultural Creatives and Progressives be the leaders of the next and new Alberta? Yes, time will tell, but I sense it will be sooner than later that the change takes shape and shows what direction will prevail.

Does the Economist See the Wildrose Alliance For What it Is?

The Economist recently interviewed me about Reboot Alberta but we never made the cut when editors got ahold of the story. C'est la vie.  The Wildrose Alliance Party was the real reason this most respected sources of news and political information came to Alberta.  I managed to help explain the WAP to the Economist and put some of what they are and are not in perspecitve.

The story the got published is very interesting and a must read for every Albertan who is feaful for the future of our province if a fundamentalist conservative government were ever to get power over our lives. Here is the text of the Economist piece. Share this post with your networks, friends and families:

A Canadian conservative split




A wild rose blooms


A prairie echo of the tea party


Feb 18th 2010
EDMONTON
From The Economist print edition






WHEN the Progressive Conservatives won power in Alberta, Richard Nixon was still in the White House and Britain had only just abandoned shillings. Under various leaders, they have ruled continuously for almost four decades. Alberta, the home of oil, gas and cattle, has become the bedrock of Canadian conservatism. Yet now the Progressive Conservatives face a rebellion on the prairies—from the right, rather than the left.






Ed Stelmach, Alberta’s premier since 2006, won 72 of the 83 seats in the legislature at an election just two years ago. Now he is Canada’s least popular premier, with an approval rating in a recent poll of 14%. The recession has not helped. It has driven up unemployment in a province accustomed to the good life during a prolonged commodity boom, and caused Alberta’s finances to fall into the red for the first time in 15 years. The premier has antagonised the oil and gas industry, first with a bungled attempt to raise royalties and then by his lacklustre defence of the province’s tar sands from attacks on their carbon emissions by greens at home and abroad.






An election does not have to be called until 2012. But Mr Stelmach may be dumped by his own party before then. That is because it feels threatened by the Wildrose Alliance, a more conservative fringe party. This has only three seats in the legislature but leads the opinion polls. It is also setting the political agenda in Alberta.






Danielle Smith, the alliance’s young leader, criticises Mr Stelmach’s government for spending too freely and “blowing through” the province’s savings. Her calls for smaller government are popular with Albertans, whose views often align more closely with American Republicans (of the tea-party persuasion) than with eastern Canadians. Many also like Ms Smith’s unabashed defence of exploiting the tar sands (she argues that it is not clear that human activity causes climate change). Her suggestion that Alberta emulate Quebec and wrest control of a host of joint programmes, such as immigration, income-tax collection, the public pension plan and the police force, plays to a belief that Alberta is being short-changed in Ottawa.






Facing this conservative wind, the provincial government is tacking to the right. Mr Stelmach named Ted Morton, a fiscal and social conservative, as finance minister in a cabinet shuffle last month. The 2010 budget, unveiled on February 9th, involves a spending increase and a deficit, but it came wrapped up in promises of restraint and future balanced budgets.






Most of Ms Smith’s positions hark back to an open letter in 2001 by a group of Calgary intellectuals whose number included Mr Morton. Known as the “firewall letter”, it urged Ralph Klein, then the premier, to build barriers to keep the federal government from encroaching on provincial jurisdiction. As a leading contender for the Conservative leadership if Mr Stelmach jumps or is pushed, Mr Morton may get a chance to implement these ideas. One of the other signatories was Stephen Harper. Since he is now prime minister of Canada, he may be rather less keen to see firewalls going up.

David Cameron: The next age of government | Video on TED.com

David Cameron: The next age of government Video on TED.com

I was twigged to this TED Talk by Mark Diner - an avid Reboot Alberta participant. I am sure many will find this presentation by the leader of the Conservative Party of Great Britain at best ironic and it may significantly dissonant for others. It is far from the stereotypical Conservative misleading screed we see from the Harper Conservative Party of Canada or other fundamentalist conservative political philosophies that are alive and kicking, even in Alberta today.

As a social progressive who believes in a fiscally conservative governing approach I want open, accountable and transparent government.  I also want my government to be focused on the well-being of its citizens.  Based on my personal operating narrative, I have to say I LOVED this presentation. It is 14 minutes long but it is worth a watch and a careful listen - right to the very end.

The values that David Cameron refers to a being the basis for a "post-bureaucratic" shift from cenralized, command and control, top down paternalistic approach to government are very well aligned with the results of the Reboot Alberta Citizen's Values survey. That survey was aimed at the Progressives and Moderates who self selected and who have enjoined the Reboot Alberta movement at http://www.rebootalberta.org/. It is not a group that one would expect to align well with a "conservative" view expressed by David Cameron in this TED Talk.

I will be doing a presentation on the survey findings and exploring some of their implications for the future of Alberta's political culture at RebootAlberta2.0 next weekend. This shift from centralized power in the hands of a few to a distributed and networked power in the hands of the many is, acording to David Cameron, the result of the information and communications revolution spawned by the Internet. Now the 60s slogan of "Power to the People" has been actualized and that will change government, democracy, citizenship and the relationships amongst them.

Reboot Alberta is at the cusp of encouraging those kinds of citizenship induced changes in the political power relationships within the province.  It is looking and clarifying the purposes of politics and figuring out how we, as citizens, can make politics all about public service and well-being again.  How do we encourage informed and respectful dissent and stop the political power game and "democratic" processes being merely to win elections?