Following the release of a report by the Yukon ombudsman’s office, the Yukon Party is calling out the Education minister for previously making what the Official Opposition characterizes as inaccurate claims about fully implementing the 23 actions items listed in the Safer Schools Action Plan.
Meanwhile, the ombudsman is concerned about the chance of a similar “communication failure” like the Education department’s “inordinate delay” of 19 months to inform Hidden Valley Elementary School parents about the alleged sexualized abuse of a student if proper action isn’t taken.
In a press release issued on Feb. 27, ombudsman Jason Pedlar said the Education department’s ambiguity in formally accepting all his office’s recommendations “in principle” exemplifies a lack of precision found when evaluating the department’s ways.
“My concern is that if our recommendations aren’t incorporated, there remains the real possibility that a similar communication failure could happen again,” he said.
On Oct. 6, 2021, an unnamed individual complained to the ombudsman’s office about how long it took officials and employees of the Education department to notify the school’s parents and students about the allegations of sexualized abuse of a student by educational assistant William Auclaire-Bellemare.
The issue only became known to parents and the broader community after a CBC News story in July 2021 about a civil suit filed against the former educational assistant and the Yukon government. It led to four independent investigations: a report by British Columbia lawyer Amanda Rogers on behalf of the Yukon government, one by the Yukon child and youth advocate, another by the RCMP and a fourth by the ombudsman’s office.
This week, the ombudsman’s office released its second report as part of a two-part investigation into whether that hold up to communicate with parents was unfair.
The first report substantiates what has been dubbed a “communication failure” while the second report looks at whether the Education department has met the recommendations in the Rogers report and whether the steps taken by the department in its action plan (now known as the Safer Schools Action Plan) adequately mitigate risk of similar communication failures down the line.
Pedlar said the unfairness to parents was due to failed procedures, accountability and training. While the department had guidelines, policies and procedures in place to manage these kinds of situations, the ombudsman found that there were disconnected documents, unaware or negligent staff and nobody having been delegated the responsibility to communicate with parents.
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The ombudsman’s second report took a “granular approach” to evaluate 19 separate considerations the Education department laid out in its nine-page action plan. The report found less than half of those actions met the recommendations: eight fully met the recommendations, five met them in part and six either didn’t meet the recommendations or the investigation was unable to determine due to a lack of information provided by the department.
Pedlar’s office also made eight recommendations which share the “department’s need for interconnected and detailed procedures, accountability and training.”
“While we know that the sexualized abuse perpetrated by [Auclaire-Bellemare] will never be undone, we are very supportive of the independent efforts made to review this abhorrent situation; that these lessons cannot just be ‘learned’ by the department but put into a clear, operational context where and when they are needed most,” reads the report’s conclusion.
“That is why we have suggested, for example, that teachers, school administrators and department officials should have a checklist setting out unequivocal procedures in an action sequence that is most applicable to a particular incident or allegation. It is not enough to provide pieces of this information in various documents, especially where time and clarity matter.”
Prior to the release of the second report, as required under the Ombudsman Act, the department formally accepted the recommendations “in principle.”
“While we are pleased that they have accepted them, we are unsure what ‘in principle’ means, since the deputy minister also stated that our recommendations provide ‘clarifying insights’,” reads the ombudsman’s report.
The report notes that the department is taking a “serious and considered approach” in respect to the matter. For example, the report indicates the deputy minister described several training initiatives that have occurred or will occur soon.
The ombudsman has given the department six months to provide a revised action plan that addresses his office’s recommendations.
Those recommendations relate to revising the post-incident communications guide to make clear its relationship to other policies, procedures and guidelines; recast it as a set of checklists outlining the steps to take to report an incident or allegation and communicate about it with families after it occurs; and include timelines of actions and decisions, a communications message example, continuous improvement mechanisms and a training regimen to learn about and apply in crisis situations.
Pedlar’s office also recommends revising the student protection policy and relevant procedures and guidelines to designate someone to be accountable for keeping communications on track and actively reporting to the deputy minister on its status as well as to require the deputy minister to sign off on a final communications decision about an incident or allegation of abuse or harm to a student by an adult.
Shortly after the release of the ombudsman’s report on Feb. 27, the Yukon Party issued a press release in which it expressed its disappointment in the government continuing to fail parents and children by “mishandling” its response to recommendations intended to make schools safer, noting the Safer Schools Action Plan was specifically built in response to the serious criminal actions.
In a June 2023 press release by the Yukon government, Premier Ranj Pillai called the 23 actions “completed” and Education Minister Jeanie McLean commented on implementing the actions.
“The Government of Yukon has fully implemented the 23 action items in the Safer Schools Action Plan, which focuses on improving the safety and wellbeing of students,” reads the release.
The Yukon Party’s press release argues the ombudsman’s press release “contradicts” and “exposed the inaccuracy of the minister’s claims” given that the government had only met less than half of the plan’s recommendations.
“In the months and years since the serious criminal actions by a former employee at Hidden Valley School became public, we heard repeatedly from parents and the school community that the Liberal government never provided proper support to families and staff,” Lake Laberge MLA Brad Cathers said in the release.
“This report from the Ombudsman shows that the Liberal government continues to fail families, and made false claims about the actions taken in the wake of this very serious matter. Minister McLean and Premier Pillai need to listen to the Ombudsman, and promptly follow through on his request for a revised Action Plan that fully addresses his recommendations.”
Yukon NDP Leader Kate White also expects to see revisions to the plan based on the ombudsman’s recommendations, which she supports.
In a Feb. 27 email statement, she said the ombudsman’s report “clearly lays out” where the plan needs improvement — particularly around communications, policies and procedures for critical incidents.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com