Alberta child intervention panel wants to hear from families before publication ban recommendation

One member of the Alberta all-party child intervention panel who was part of a previous roundtable on the matter says the decision to lean toward public accountability over family privacy should be dialed back.

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I am now going to post a response to this.


Letter to the Alberta Child Welfare Review Panel:

cipanel.submissions@gov.ab.ca

There is a problematic factor which is impeding progress and that elephant in the room cannot be escaped: The wrong people are at the Child Welfare table. The Panel consists of some members which "have NO background in child care and yet are being asked to make decisions to change the parts of the System that are failing our children and families." (Direct quote from a Panelist.)


Now Publication Bans are being revisited by Panelists. Meanwhile, I have stood at far too many vigils for children murdered by their caregivers. One little child and her family particularly remain close to my heart because both of our girls were harmed in Morinville:

At the memorial for the child which took place upon the Alberta Legislature steps, a mother needed to beg camera-persons to stop recording because of the Publication Ban.

Although another woman killed that mother's child, it was the mother herself who faced 6 months imprisonment or $10K fine for simply paying tribute to her daughter by speaking her name. It was at that moment that I vowed to challenge this inhumane, unfair, harmful practice.

I, myself, was threatened by lawsuit and those individuals even attempted to have me criminally charged to prevent me from speaking the truth about what my daughter endured.

My daughter's name is Samantha Martin. I was the first person in the Province to successfully have the Court lift the ban so that I could legally share the truth. I taught other parents and their counsel how to challenge the oppressive ban.

Taking this right away again would be detrimental to justice and the most disrespectful move backwards one could impose upon a deceased child; to steal their identity along with life!

It took great efforts to move forward towards transparency. Silence is never a friend to the victim. NO MORE SILENCE!

Sincerely,

Velvet Martin,
Spokesperson for Protecting Canadian Children
Founder of Samantha's Law