Centre embodies ‘spirit of Candace’

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This article was published 22/04/2015 (4141 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When asked about the effect she’s had on child protection and the support systems for families of missing or slain children in Manitoba, Wilma Derksen paused and looked at a portrait of her daughter.

“It was needed back then, not just for my family, but for families dealing with similar tragedies,” the always gracious Derksen said inside the halls of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, an organization she helped establish in 1985.

“There’s something about Candace’s story that had power, and we simply needed to stay out of the way. This organization is the spirit of Candace. It’s not me. This is all her.”

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. The non-profit, which is dedicated to the safety of children, supporting families and addressing child victimization through education, has grown from its humble beginnings as Child Find Manitoba to a leading agency in Canada.

Candace’s story is well-known. The 13-year-oldwas on her way home from school when she went missing in November 1984. An exhaustive search led to a small shed near her home, where her frozen body was found nearly two months later.

In the weeks that followed, Child Find Manitoba was born.

“We had one goal, to make things safer for children,” Derksen said.

High above Winnipeg in the Richardson Building, Derksen and supporters — a collection of friends and strangers touched by her story — cobbled together a charitable group on the basis of this mission: to build an organization that can work with police and community leaders to help to protect children and to help families deal with similar tragedies.

A board was put together. Roles were defined. Phone lists were crafted. Obstacles were overcome. A message was eventually established and through lengthy meetings and countless hours Child Find Manitoba found some footing.

“I think a lot of it in the beginning was them looking after me,” Derksen said.

“We didn’t have a network. We had to start one. Fortunately, the community was sympathetic to our message.”

Derksen stepped away from the organization after the first three years, realizing she needed to take some time to grieve the loss of Candace.

Thirty years later, the organization, built on a base of volunteers, has a new name, more than 40 people on staff and a respected national footprint. It’s gone from a largely volunteer-based organization invested in helping to locate missing children in Manitoba to a Canada-wide agency with several national awareness programs focused on keeping children safe.

Support services for families dealing with missing and slain children remain but education has found some real traction into the agency’s mandate, executive director Lianna McDonald said.

“We’ve gained a voice in classrooms. You can’t underestimate how valuable that is.”

McDonald has been with the centre for 17 years, and she’s seen the organization grow beyond what Derksen could imagine.

National programs such as Commit to Kids and Kids in the Know originally got their start in Manitoba, while Cybertip.ca — the child exploitation tip line — was adopted under the federal government’s child-protection strategy in May 2004.

That expanded presence hasn’t changed the organization’s original goal, the one set by Derksen 30 years ago.

Trying to make things safer for children will always be the most important plank.

“We are still providing those core services people talked about when they first set out,” McDonald said.

“We’ve since added a number of new initiatives but we’re still true to those roots.”

As for Candace’s story, the Derksens’ story, it continues in the courts.

Mark Edward Grant was arrested in 2007 based on DNA evidence found on the rope used to bind Derksen. In 2011, he was convicted of second-degree murder.

Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a 2013 Manitoba Court of Appeal ruling that overturned the conviction, citing questions over the judge’s decision to disallow the defence to present evidence that could have cast doubt on Grant’s guilt.

A new trial date for Grant has not been set.