Three Wise Rallies

December 23, 2011 permalink

Rallies for oversight were scheduled for three Ontario cities today, Sudbury, London and St Catharines.

Sudbury's was announced, and covered, in two press articles:

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CAS OVERSIGHT RALLY

The Ontario Coalition for Accountability will be staging a rally outside the Children's Aid Society of the Districts of Sudbury and Manitoulin today. Participants are rallying for oversight by the Ontario Ombudsman.

"Currently, the office of the Ombudsman can only investigate the (Ontario) ministries themselves. The Ombudsman's hands are tied by the Ontario government and are being blocked access to conduct investigations of public institutions for further violations and criminal acts," a release said.

"Ontario is the only province in Canada not allowing investigations of nursing homes, hospitals, children's aid societies, school boards, universities and police."

The rally will take place outside 319 Lasalle Blvd.

Source: Sudbury Star

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for Harold's story Tanya Van Norman, front, and Tabatha Haskett were participants in an Ontario Coalition for Accountability protest in front of the local CAS office on Lasalle Boulevard in Sudbury on Friday, Dec. 24, 2011.

HAROLD CARMICHAEL/THE SUDBURY STAR/QMI AGENCY

'Children's Aid destroys families' -- protesters

By HAROLD CARMICHAEL, THE SUDBURY STAR, Posted December 27, 2011

The way Neil Haskett sees it, universities, colleges, hospitals, Children's Aid Societies, police services, municipal governments, and even nursing homes across Ontario are all tied into the public purse and should be accountable to an independent body just like provincial ministries are.

"The Children's Aid Societies, along with hospitals, nursing homes, the police, the MUSH (municipalities, universities, schools and hospitals) sector, are all self-regulated," he said Friday. "We are highlighting that today. They have been resisting opening up the past couple of years."

Haskett, who is one of about 30 local members of the Sudbury chapter of the Ontario Coalition for Accountability, participated in a two-hour protest late Friday morning and early afternoon on the sidewalk in front of the Lasalle Boulevard office of the Children's Aid Society (CAS) of the Districts of Sudbury and Manitoulin.

The local protest was one of several held outside C AS offices in 20 cities across Ontario. including London, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.

Haskett said the C AS is simply unaccountable because complaints by the public or even staff end up going nowhere.

"They do not allow investigations of the CAS," he said. "They will argue they are controlled by the Child and Family Services Review Board (of the Ministry of Children and Youth Services). They say they can't comment on any matter before the courts are already done. That is pretty much every-thing."

Haskett said Friday's protest is the first of many that will be held in the months ahead and different institutions will be singled out.

He said that at the moment, the provincial Office of the Ombudsman can only investigate ministries themselves. Investigations concerning public institutions such as universities and hospitals, he said, come from within as the bodies are self-regulated and cannot be investigated by the Ombudsman in the event of criminal acts, financial issues, or other concerns.

Haskett got involved with the coalition after being dissatisfied with a police matter involving his family.

Colette Prevost, executive director of the CAS of the Districts of Sudbury and Manitoulin, said CAS chapters are accountable.

"The accountability group across Ontario, over the past several years, has supported calls for the government to have several institutions be overseen by the Ombudsman," she said. "We have many layers of accountability. We support accountability reviews."

Prevost said the Ombudsman is tied into the CAS supervisory body -- the Child and Family Services Review Board -- and therefore "there is an element" of involvement there.

The Child and Family Services Review Board, added Prevost, can also be called upon to do investigations involving CAS chapters.

hcarmichael@thesudburystar.com

Source: Sudbury Star

Neil Haskett Dec 23, 2011- The city issued a cold weather advisory and we still had over a dozen show up. We also had over a thousand people honking in support and we even had a few people stop and give us there information to join in future rallies.

Source: Facebook

Sudbury pictures: [1] [2] [Andrea Gustafson, Jason Ste-Croix, Tammy Mack, Neil Haskett and Lee Saumure] [Andrea Gustafson (foreground).

Pat Niagara The St. Catharines Rally outside of Family and Children's Service of Niagara went great. This rally was done in conjunction with other rallies in Ontario hosted by our friends up in Sudbury and in London. All in all it was a great turn out at all 3 events.

December 23, 2011

Source: Facebook

Only news so far from London:

Christine Julien thanks all who showed up today..my last thought before i go to bed..SUMMER LOVIN!!! see you all there..watch for pics and info coming soon. Lillian Rocks as Always...now TAKE A BREAK! ♥

December 23, 2011

Source: Facebook

London photos: [1] [2] [3] [empty stroller].

Source: Facebook, London photos

Video from the three rallies, YouTube and local copy (mp4).