CFS report on Tina a private matter: province

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This article was published 31/03/2015 (3846 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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THE Progressive Conservatives want the government to release information regarding Child and Family Service involvement with troubled teen Tina Fontaine prior to her slaying last summer.

The government said Monday it has nothing to release, and it needs to respect the police investigation into Fontaine’s death.

“There is an active police investigation that must be concluded before the department and the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) can do all the necessary interviews and finalize their reviews,” the government said. “It’s important that CFS and the OCA do nothing that would jeopardize the search for Tina’s killer.”

Tory critic Ian Wishart said CFS was the last public agency to have contact with the 15-year-old before her body was recovered from the Red River Aug. 17.

Wishart said if Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross were to reveal what contact her department had with Fontaine, it could shed light on avoiding similar circumstances involving other young people who are wards of CFS, but are living on the street.

“Her department’s actions are something that should be in the public realm,” Wishart said, adding the release of the information would not conflict with the police investigation.

“We certainly want to make sure that no one is left at risk,” he said.

Last week, Wishart said the number of missing children and youth per capita in Manitoba dwarfs that of any other province. From 2010 to 2014, the number of reported missing children and youth increased 22 per cent in Manitoba, while the Canadian average saw a 20 per cent decline.

Winnipeg police receive about 6,500 missing-person reports each year, most of which involve vulnerable youth in CFS care.

Wishart said because of the involvement of CFS, the province and Irvin-Ross bear responsibility in the girl’s case.

He also said to respect privacy concerns, the province could release a redacted report.

In its release, the provincial government stated: “Because internal CFS reviews touch on the intimate details of the lives of children and families, these are not made public due to the need to respect their privacy. This right to privacy is protected by law.”

Last week, police said they would not discuss the specifics of contact two officers had with Fontaine during a traffic stop on Aug. 8, days before her death.

The girl was supposed to be in a group or foster home, but had run away and wasn’t seen for more than a week when police made the traffic stop.

Police have told Fontaine’s family that all four people in the vehicle were intoxicated, the driver was taken into custody, but the others, including Tina, were let go.

Later that day, Tina was found passed out in a lane near Ellice Avenue near the University of Winnipeg, taken to hospital by paramedics and later transferred to a downtown hotel by a CFS worker.

She was last seen Aug. 9, walking away with a man who reportedly agreed to pay her for sex. She was subsequently reported missing in a police news release.

Her body was recovered from the river a week later.

Police said last week the two officers who had contact with Tina will not be charged, and are the focus of internal disciplinary proceedings.

Police said one of the two officers is suspended without pay, while the second officer remains on administrative leave.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca