15 years ago … (Nov. 28 - Dec. 4, 1995)
Government report calls for child protection changes
Social Services Minister Joy MacPhail this week promised a complete overhaul of child protection services in B.C. after the release of a scathing report into the death of five-year-old Matthew Vaudreuil, who was killed by his addicted, mentally ill mother in 1992.
The 692-page report by Judge Thomas Gove makes 118 recommendations, including a stand-alone ministry for children and families and the appointment of an independent commissioner to review all deaths involving young people in the ministry's care.
At a press conference in Vancouver, Judge Gove called for "radical changes" and told Ms. MacPhail "the children of this province are relying on you."
Ms. MacPhail said she agrees "entirely" with the report's direction and promised to appoint an interim commissioner "immediately" to start implementing the recommendations.
The failings in Matthew's case, such as inadequate training, lax hiring standards, ineffective supervision, shoddy record-keeping and poor judgment, were "representative of the ministry's delivery of child protection services across the province," Judge Gove said.
Flashforward: This week, B.C.'s children's advocate criticized the Campbell government for failing to act on a 2006 report by former judge Ted Hughes that called for sweeping changes to the province's child protection system.
25 years ago… (Nov. 28-Dec. 4, 1985)
Tensions growing over Stein Valley logging plans
Plans to log the Stein River Valley near Lillooet should be delayed for at least three months to avoid an open confrontation between first nations and forestry workers, the chair of a government-appointed wilderness review committee said this week.
Pointing to the recent wave of arrests at an ongoing logging blockade on Lyell Island, another area his committee is studying, chairman Bryan Williams said, "our work could be made more difficult" by a similar clash in the Stein Valley.
Calls to preserve the Stein Valley have been growing louder since Forest Minister Tom Waterland revealed in September that his ministry has licensed B.C. Forest Products to harvest timber from the pristine wilderness area.
Last week, the company selected a contractor to build the first six kilometres of a proposed 20-kilometre logging road into the valley's upper reaches.
The chiefs of 12 Indian bands in the Lytton and Lillooet region issued a statement this week calling for a ban on "developments of any kind" in the Stein Valley until aboriginal land claims have been settled.
Flash forward: Conservationists claimed a major victory in November, 1995, when the B.C. government announced the creation of a 106,000-hectare provincial park in the Stein Valley watershed.
Special to The Globe and Mail