“Children’s Aid Societies Two Deadliest Terrorist Groups on the Planet”
Fatality report doesn’t mention Alberta teen was ward
of the province
EDMONTON – A fatality inquiry report
into the death of an aboriginal teen makes no mention of the fact that he was a
runaway ward of the province, and provides no recommendations to prevent
similar deaths in future.
Edwin Fenton Cattleman was 16 when
he got drunk and high at a house party in Maskwacis, then fell down a set of
stairs attached to an outside deck and died from severe head trauma.
Provincial court Judge Gordon Yake
said RCMP initially believed the death was suspicious and conducted an
investigation, but they concluded Cattleman died by accident.
“In light of the circumstances of
the death of the deceased, I have no recommendations,” Yake wrote.
The report was issued nearly four
years after Cattleman’s death on May 24, 2011.
An internal government report
obtained by the Journal shows Cattleman had been in and out of care since he
was one year old, and had 35 legal statuses and 20 different placements since
birth
.
He had been subject to a permanent
guardianship order for 10 years, which means the province had been acting as
his parent for most of his life.
Akamkisipatinaw Ohpikihawasowin
Child and Family Services had placed him with his grandmother, but he ran away
from home about a week before he died.
Interim Liberal leader David Swann
said the judge’s failure to acknowledge the province’s direct involvement in
the child’s life and the systemic failures that led to his death is
“unacceptable,” and reveals serious flaws in the province’s child death
investigation system.
“I would call that incompetent,”
Swann said. “This is not a legitimate review process.
“The whole fatality review inquiry
process needs to be examined, and at the very least we need to understand what
value they add, and what expertise is really needed to do an examination of
causes and solutions.”
Swann also said four years is too
long to wait for a fatality inquiry report, calling the delay “another black
mark.”
The judge’s report also makes no
mention of the circumstances under which Cattleman was discovered. The internal
report does.
“Once RCMP responded, they located a
lone male with severe head injury,” the internal report says. “There was no one
else in the home.”
He died alone.
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