Naveah. Found at five years old, wrapped in a blanket, dead in a dumpster in downtown Toronto. Known to four child protection agencies but they did not see her or remember her. It is too easy to make her death only about the failings of a Mother, or the Read more…
When the Executive Director of the Ottawa Children’s Aid Society told a news conference in June that her organization and the system was at a “breaking point” she was speaking a hard truth. The Director was referring to the crisis facing children living with “complex special needs”, whose parents Read more…
I met Mykola Kuleba over a decade ago. He was then the Children’s Ombudsman of Ukraine. I was then the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth of Ontario. Mykola was seeking a Memorandum of Understanding between our respective offices. Considering his offer I reached out to the Ukrainian diaspora, in a fashion, checking his Read more…
On August 3, 2008 Katelynn Sampson died. Seven-year-old Katelynn was murdered by her two caregivers in their Parkdale, Toronto apartment. Paramedics found her lifeless body in a pool of blood, covered in 70 wounds, each more ghastly than the last. Eight of her ribs had been broken, her teeth Read more…