New BrunswickCBC Investigates

Public should know more about child deaths, privacy commissioner says

New Brunswick's access to information and privacy commissioner is calling on the government to release more public information about child deaths, saying the province is incorrectly using privacy law to maintain "secrecy" surrounding investigations.

Anne Bertrand says government is using privacy law to maintain 'secrecy' around child deaths

Karissa Donkin, Shane Fowler CBC News Posted: Mar 24, 2017 5:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: March 24, 2017

Anne Bertrand, the access to information commissioner, says the New Brunswick government should tell the public more about how at-risk children are dying. (CBC )

New Brunswick's access to information and privacy commissioner is calling on the government to release more public information about child deaths.

Anne Bertrandsays the government is incorrectly using privacy law to maintain a level of"secrecy" around the child death review process.

She said transparency should trump privacy in cases of public interest, such as this one.

"I think they're using privacy law in a way it was never intended to be," Bertrand said in an interview on Information Morning Fredericton on Friday.

The government has said privacy law prevents it from revealing the findings of the committee that reviews child deaths.

It has also said reports written by the child death review committee are confidential advice to minister.

Bertrand, the independent officer who is responsible for interpretingNew Brunswick's privacy laws, disagrees.

"This is not advice to minister," the commissioner said.

"These are recommendations from a properly constituted committee that reports publicly."

Bertrand's comments follow The Lost Children, a CBC News investigation that found few details are made public when a child known to the Department of Social Development dies.

No specific changes

N.B.'s child and youth advocate on release of child death review committee information

8 years ago

2:58

Norm Boss discusses what may have led to the government changing its tune on the secrecy surrounding New Brunswick's child death review committee.Even though the commissioner made her position clear, Attorney General Serge Rousselle said government must consult Bertrand and others before committing to any specific changes.

"We are not doing policy on the fly," Rousselle said."I just want to make sure that we understand exactly her opinion."

The minister also questioned whyBertrand, along with child and youth advocate NormBoss, haven't raised concerns about the child death review process until now.

Bossaccused the government of trying to deflect blame.

"I believe we're doing our jobs, both myself and commissioner Bertrand," he said. "When issues like that come to us, then we speak out on them."

Car crashes, drowning, neglect

Mona Sock was 13 when she took her own life on Elsipogtog First Nation. (CBC)

For the first time, the New Brunswick government has revealed some details about how its most vulnerable children are dying, information it previously said it couldn't release.

Nineteen children known to child protection officials have died from homicide, suicide, abuse, neglect or "undetermined" causes over the past two decades.

Another 34 children under government watch have died from accidental causes since 1997,including car crashes and drowning, according to an emailed statement from Elaine Bell, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice and Public Safety.

Four First Nations children known to child protection officials have died from unnatural causes over the past two decades.

That's 7.5 per cent of the total number of child deaths, even though First Nations children make up just threeper cent of New Brunswick's population of children under the age of 19.

They includeMona Sock, a 13-year-old girlwho was placed in a foster home with a convicted sex offender. She took her own life on Elsipogtog First Nation in 2007.

Bosswould like to see more detailed numbers. He wants to know where these children died and when it happened.

But he's pleased with how quickly government has shifted its tone on providing more information.

"We're at the precipice," Boss said. "We need to do this and I think it will happen."

'This is not rocket science'

New Brunswick's child death review system was created 20 years ago, sparked by anger and a desire to do better following the death of 28-month-old Jackie Brewer. (CBC)

Bertrandsaid the public should know more information and it can be done quite easily.

She suggested the government could release case summaries that give the public context about how children are dying, without violating a family's privacy.

"This is not rocket science," she said.

"I don't believe it requires a lot of amendments to existing legislation."

Bertrand cited a section of the province's Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act that overrides the privacy of third parties in cases of "significant public interest" where"public health or safety or protection of the environment" is at stake.

On Thursday, the government tabled two reports that detail what was done with 20 years' worth of recommendations on child deaths.

But the public still doesn't know why many of those recommendations were made.

Without context, it's hard for the public to understand what the recommendations mean, Bertrand said.

"I can't make sense of them and I'm pretty good at doing that," the commissioner said.

New Brunswick's child death review system was created 20 years ago, sparked by anger and a desire to do better followingthe death of 28-month-old Jackie Brewer.