The inquiry is hobbling along – it’s wings clipped by a mandate which will forever keep it from taking flight to get where it needs to go, and tethered to the ground by the respective motions of Father MacDonald and the diocese.
On Wednesday things wrapped up in the early afternoon. Yesterday it was all over by lunch time. And so, as Justice Glaude said “that ends another day in paradise.”
And that’s it at the Weave Shed – publicly at least – until 18 April 2006!
I’ve rounded up a few bits and pieces of information from the past few days of testimony by Children’s Aid Society (CAS) witnesses. I’ll put this out now and tomorrow touch on a few other issues I’ve been wanting to address.
So, for now, fourteen interesting facts about the CAS:
1. The Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services is the ministry which generally deals with CAS.
2. The Ministry operates a confidential Child Abuse Register containing the names of individuals whom the CAS have identified as child abusers according the meaning of the Child and Family Services Act.
3. Since the Child Welfare Act was amended in 1978 professionals have had a duty to report all allegations of child sexual abuse to the CAS.
4. A new sex abuse register was created in 1978. The names and information from the previous register dating back to the mid 60s were not transferred to the new one.
5. There has been a growing emphasis over the last few years on the rights of individuals as it relates to the sex abuse register.
6. Persons whose names are added to the register are notified.
7. Records are maintained on the register for 25 years unless they are expunged or amended.
8. Persons named as alleged abusers in the registry have the right personally or through a lawyer to examine the information related to them and can request to have their name removed.
9. A request to have a name removed from the registry can be granted by the responsible government official or as a result of a hearing.
10. There are 26,988 alleged child abusers registered as of 31 March 2006.
11. Since 1979 here has been a duty for CAS to report among other things, all allegations of sexual abuse to the ministry.
12. In 1984 the Child and Family Services Act established the monitoring and supervisory role of the ministry. The Act was proclaimed in 1985.
Failure of professionals to report sex abuse allegations became an offence punishable by a $1,000 fine.
13. In 1989 the provincial government assumed funding responsibility for the Children’s Aid Society (CAS). The CAS is now 100% government funded. With total government funding came a dramatic increase in income and, for the Stormont Dundas Glengarry CAS, an increase from “50 or 60” staff in 1995 to its current 115.
14. In 2000 the CAS introduced what it calls the fast-track System, a CAS database which allows CAS workers in different regions to do a quick name search in a common database to determine if there are any allegations against a specific individual. The system is for CAS use only and not available to police, however in cases where CAS and police are working together the police would benefit from the information.
And that’s enough for now,
Sylvia