Restoring Dignity Campaign

For more than four centuries has been the abuse suffered by many children while under the care of Canadian institutions; including children sent to orphanages, residential schools and various child welfare agencies. You can help to stop it. Join us as we call for a national inquiry into institutional child abuse in Canada. Help us set the record straight and bring dignity back to the lives of millions. Join us and take part in the Restoring Dignity Campaign.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Founder is recognized by the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly for his work against institutional child abuse.

Restoring Dignity (formerly Internations' Justice Federation) Founder & CEO, Roch Longueépé is recognized by the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly for his work against institutional child abuse.

http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/

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GUINEA PIG KIDS

GUINEA PIG KIDS - A BBC documentary exposes how the city of New York has been forcing HIV positive children under its supervision to be used as human guinea pigs in tests for experimental AIDS drug trials. All of the children in the program were under the legal guidance of the city's child welfare department, the Administration for Children's Services. Most live in foster care or independent homes run on behalf of the local authorities and almost all the children are believed to be African-American or Latino. The BBC identified pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline as one of the companies that provided the experimental drugs for the tests. In the documentary, parents or guardians who refused to consent to the trials claim that children were removed by ACS and placed in foster families or children's homes. Then, acting over their objections, ACS authorized the drug trials. Not for the faint of heart; be prepared to cry for these children. (Slightly edited version) - Download the video here: http://www.helpforhiv.com/gpkstream.htm

No more polygamy with girls under 18, B.C. sect says

Polygamy in Canada - Winston Blackmore, leader of FLD S group in Bountiful B.C., reportedly has 28 wives and over 100 children. Logging companies owned by Winston Blackmore are beating out other “legitimate” logging companies in Sundre, Alberta, because of underbidding. Blackmore uses his many sons as “slave” laborers. They are paid only a stipend. Months later, in a letter from the Director of Compliance, Workplace Health & Safety and Employment Standards tells a child advocate that “Alberta’s employment standards legislation does not prohibit a father from paying his son(s) a stipend rather than a wage or prohibit the employment of employees 15 years of age or older in the logging and forestry industries. - No more polygamy with girls under 18, B.C. sect says: The wives of polygamists from a religion-based community near Creston, B.C., defended their lifestyle at a meeting Tuesday night, but also said girls under 18 will no longer enter into "plural marriages."They fully admit that their families are breaking the law.But during the "Summit on Polygamy" sponsored by their church at a recreation centre in Creston, the women said their lifestyle is just another aspect of the multicultural fabric of Canada, and should be respected on freedom-of-religion grounds."Our lifestyle is not for everyone, and may not be the right choice for you," Leah Barlow, who was raised in the faith, told non-members attending the meeting. "But for us, this is the right choice." * Critics speak of very young pregnant wives * The 1,000-member community of Bountiful has attracted criticism recently because some older men have nearly 30 wives, some as young as 14. Larry Corville, who protested outside the meeting with a handful of other people, said he worries about the young mothers he sees visiting Creston from time to time. Some of them are pregnant while they still seem to be children themselves, he said.Only two girls younger than 16 have ever entered into what the women of Bountiful call plural marriages, the community countered Tuesday night. One was a day shy of her 15th birthday when she married an older man. *FROM THE FIFTH ESTATE: Polygamy in Bountiful * Barlow said the congregation has now decided that won't happen anymore. "Girls will not be allowed to enter into plural marriage until they have reached the age of consent of 18," she said. Neither the women nor Winston Blackmore, a leader in the sect who acknowledges having "married several very young wives in my life," would explain why that decision has been made now. Blackmore would only say that in the past, leaders in the U.S. were preaching that the end of the world was about to occur, and teenage girls were anxious to be married before it was too late. He added that in his case, it was the girls who told their parents they wanted to marry him, and leaders above him told him to comply with their wishes.* Lives described as happy, except for discrimination * The women of Bountiful served homemade cookies as they mingled with Creston residents at the meeting, their braided hair and modest pioneer-style dresses setting them apart. One after another, they described how happy they are sharing husbands with their "sister wives" and attacked activists who claim they have been brainwashed from an early age to accept polygamy. The women said the biggest problem they face is prejudice. They told of banks that refused their business, and of physical attacks on their children. In 2004, provincial officials said they would look into accusations of child abuse, forced marriage and sexual exploitation at the Bountiful commune. They also said there had been complaints about racist teachings in the community's schools.( Excerpt from CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/04/20/bountiful-wives050420.html )

Dangerous ideologies - Repeating mistakes of the past.

Justice Minister Vic Toews says courts should have jurisdiction over offenders as young as 10 so they can 'order appropriate treatment.' - From CBC News: Let judges deal with kids as young as 10: Toews. - The federal government want courts to have jurisdiction over offenders as young as 10 to help them avoid further crimes, Justice Minister Vic Toews says. The Youth Criminal Justice Act makes children older than 12 subject to courts, but under that age, social welfare agencies are the main means of dealing with delinquents. Justice Minister Vic Toews says courts should have jurisdiction over offenders as young as 10 so they can 'order appropriate treatment.'On Monday,August 14th, 2006, Toews proposed lowering the limit to 10 years of age, saying the point would be to help the children, not jail them.The courts should have that jurisdiction so they "can order appropriate treatment," he told reporters at the Canadian Bar Association conference in St. John's. The change would not necessarily mean charges would be laid, but the courts need some mechanism to intervene in cases where young children act in a criminal way, such as becoming involved with gangs and drugs, he said."Sometimes children, by the time they're 12, because the courts have been unable to access them under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, have in fact established a pattern of conduct that will be harmful over the long term," Toews said.Proponents of the change argue that, in some circumstances, children aged 12 who have criminal connections — carrying drugs for a gang, for example — may be too set in their ways to rehabilitate. Opponents say children under that age are not aware of the consequences of their actions. The current act is based on the principles of preventing crime "by addressing the circumstances underlying a young person’s offending behaviour," rehabilitation and ensuring young offenders are "subject to meaningful consequences." - With files from the Canadian Press. (Excerpt from CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/08/15/toews-young.html )

12.5 Million for a year of assult against one Canadian? What of institutional child abuse victims?

The Maher Arar case - Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen born in Syria in 1970, came to Canada in 1987. After earning bachelor's and master's degrees in computer engineering, Arar worked in Ottawa as a telecommunications engineer.On a stopover in New York as he was returning to Canada from a vacation in Tunisia in September 2002, U.S. officials detained Arar, claiming he has links to al-Qaeda, and deported him to Syria, even though he was carrying a Canadian passport. When Arar returned to Canada more than a year later, he said he had been tortured during his incarceration and accused American officials of sending him to Syria knowing that they practise torture. Dec. 5, 2006 - RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli appears before the Commons committee on public safety and national security for a second time. He says he made a mistake when he gave inaccurate testimony about Arar's case to the committee in September. Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day says he "had no knowledge" the commissioner would change his story. Prime Minister Stephen Harper expresses "concern" over Zaccardelli's conflicting testimony, but says he should not be fired "without due process." Prime Minister Stephen Harper issues a formal apology to Maher Arar while announcing Arar will receive $12.5 million in compensation. (exceprt from CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/arar/ ) 12.5 Million for a year of assult against one Canadian? The question that begs to be asked is why so little for institutional child abuse victims? Among the most shameful events in Canada’s past is the abuse suffered by many children while under the care of institutions, including children sent to orphanages, residential schools, and institutions through various child welfare agencies. Over the centuries in which these institutions operated, thousands of children perished due to the criminal acts committed against them by their caregivers. Those who were entrusted to protect and care for vulnerable, neglected and abused children betrayed them to their death. Further to this, proper burial rites were denied to them. In March 2000, The Law Commission of Canada issued a report on institutional child abuse in Canada. The report was entitled "Restoring Dignity". The report recounted horrors of homelessness, corruption, cultural eradication, mutilations, genocide and death resulting from the abuse. The avergae amount for victims in extreme, mutiple, forms of child abuse is ten thousand dollars. Most of these victims have suffered dislocation from their cultures, their communities, and families. Many victims also suffer from serious physical and mental disorders as a result of the abuse at the hands of their caregivers and these abuses were carried out for years, not one year, years. There is no question Mr. Arar has suffered greatly. There is no question he was owed compensation for his suffering. The question here is why so much for Mr. Arar and so little for victims who have suffered even more greatly than he?

Restoring Dignity - Responding to child abuse in Canadian institutions.

Jericho Hill school Students protest.

It was 1991, when a scandal of child abuse at British Columbia 's Jericho Hill School for the deaf and blind made headlines across Canada . Jericho Hill School , a residential school, based in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada , would become the first case of intuitional child abuse involving deaf children and one of Canada 's most infamous. Over the first few years of its operation, Jericho Hill School was rumored to be one of the best residential schools in the world for deaf children. Jericho Hill School : its mission was to provide the best education to deaf and blind children anywhere. Over the decades of its operation it would see children from all over North America . Sadly, those who constructed the physical structure did not see the isolation the children of Jericho would face, the isolation of deafness. For many deaf children leaving their families and familiar surroundings, their new home would only add to that isolation. Behind the walls of Jericho lay a dark secret history of physical and sexual abuse the sexual abuse of young children ignored by the government ministries until the abused would become abusers and the abuse that would infect students at Jericho for decades. Victims would go on to abuse other children until the abuse became a right of passage and thus became normal. The inaction of governments responsible for the school would once again see new horrors surface in newer realities. Outside the walls of Jericho , former students would go on to offend as adults. The cycles of abuse would find its way into victims' family homes and communities. While living in a group home, one former male resident stabbed and killed another over sex. The waves of pain would continue for new students at Jericho , their families and communities. By the time the cycles of abuse had reached the communities at large, rape charges against former Jericho Hill Students would bring police investigations back to Jericho Hill School . Police investigators would find incidents of abuse at Jericho as far back as 1945.

Why I didn't say anything - The Sheldon Kennedy Story.

In 1996, Sheldon Kennedy rocked the insular world of Canadian hockey by announcing that his former minor-league coach, Graham James — the Hockey News 1989 Man of the Year — had sexually abused him more than 300 times. The media portrayed Kennedy as a hero for breaking the code of silence in professional hockey and bringing James to justice. The heroic myth intensified in 1998 when Kennedy announced that he was going to in-line skate from Newfoundland to British Columbia to raise awareness of sexual abuse. The skate raised over $1 million for Canadian Red Cross sexual abuse programs, and Kennedy settled in Calgary with his wife and young daughter. Anyone who has followed hockey in the last ten years is familiar with the story of ex-NHL player Sheldon Kennedy. As one of the most promising hockey talents to emerge from the Canadian minor leagues in the last two decades, Kennedy was destined for hockey greatness. But after he was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in 1988, he attracted more attention for his off-ice antics than for his contributions to the score sheet. Plagued by rumours of drug and alcohol abuse and a string of injuries, Kennedy drifted from team to team. The happy ending promised by the headlines never materialized. Still haunted by the demons of sexual abuse, Kennedy's life spiralled out of control. Now he has finally come forward to tell his story, and the story of coach Graham James, who is out of prison and currently coaching hockey in Europe. ( Excerpt from: http://www.insomniacpress.com/title.php?id=1-897178-07-7 )

Sports - Institutional child abuse - Sheldon Kennedy.

Sheldon Kennedy skated for three teams in his eight-year NHL career and played for Canada's gold-medal-winning team in the 1988 World Junior Hockey Championship. He is best known for his courageous decision to charge his minor-league hockey coach, Graham James, with sexual assault for the abuse he suffered over a five-year period while a teenager under Graham's care. Sheldon's subsequent decision to go public with the charges rocked the hockey world and thrust him into the media spotlight, where he became an unofficial spokesperson for millions of sexual abuse survivors in North America. His life story was made into an award-winning television movie, and he has appeared on Oprah, ABC's Nightline, W5, and The Fifth Estate. After retiring from the NHL, Sheldon in-line skated across Canada to raise awareness of sexual abuse issues. Sheldon now works as a youth counsellor in Calgary, where he lives with his daughter, Ryan. (Excerpt from: www.insomniacpress.com/author.php?id=148 )

Former nun convicted of assault.

A religious commune leader in Prince Edward Island who disciplined children by beating them with a wooden paddle has been found guilty of assault. Justice David Jenkins said the use of "the rod" went beyond spanking, to beating the children. Poulin said she was just doing what God told her to do."It's not easy. But God says to do it," she testified. She said religious scriptures warn that witholding the rod spoils children. The former nun said she never struck the children in anger or with vindictiveness. She said the force she used was not excessive. The children were removed from the commune in Hazel Grove, P.E.I., in July 2001 after police learned about the beatings. During testimony, the children and some adults who left the commune described life at the religious retreat as brutal. They said the children were isolated from society, forced to work long hours in the commune restaurant and frequently beaten. "She really had us for her work slaves," one boy told the court during his testimony. (Excerpt from CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2002/10/25/verdict_021025.html )

Clergy Sexual abuse - The John Swales case.

In a recent landmark case involving the Roman Catholic Church clergy sexual abuse scandal, Ontario Superior Court Justice John Kerr summed this issue up best. In this particular case, the diocese attempted to counter sue a victim who had abused his younger brothers. The diocese claimed the victim turned abuser was partly responsible for the suffering of his siblings when he sexually abused them, but Kerr said he found no merit in that argument. He said "Blaming John for his assaults would be similar to blaming Frankenstein's monster for his actions, rather than attributing its behavior to the scientist who created it."

Restraints "a form of abuse" coroners inquest told - General.

TORONTO -- Using physical restraints "as a means of control or discipline--is a form of abuse." Community Living Ontario executive director Keith Powell, said at the opening of a coroners inquest into a death in a group home. Stephanie Jobin died in a group home in 1998 after staff restrained her under a bean bag for 20 minutes. Mathew Geigen-Miller, a youth activist with the Ottawa Defence for Children International called on the inquest into Jobin's death to expose the "culture of disrespect for children's rights." He noted that group home workers who restrained Jobin were not trained for such situations. Most provinces have few, if any training requirements for group home staff in first aid, CPR or crisis intervention training. The CLO states that more funds for research, more money for salaries and alternatives to physically restraining people are among the requirements to ensure that lives are saved and enhanced for those in group homes. Instead focus must be on alternatives to restraints and "ensuring people with disabilities receive adequate and individually appropriate supports." Stressing that such supports are an investment in people which "would virtually dissolve the current reliance on restraints, except in the most urgent cases." The CLO also noted in a background paper that current funding for salaries within the developmental services results in "tremendous turnover" in staff. Consequently, staff are often inadequately trained and have no personal knowledge of the people they support, which "is a formula for abuse and tragedy." It was noted that group home workers who restrained Jobin were neither trained in first aid nor in CPR. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0LVZ/is_5_18/ai_96811673 )

Child Migrants

Pictures from: http://www.pier21.ca/Child_Migrants_-_Roddy_Mackay.3740.0.html - Beginning in the 1600's, Child Migration was devised as offering underprivileged children a 'new start' in a fresh country. It was also a way for Britain to solve its social problems. It was a means of 'seeding the empire', and was pursued with missionary zeal. The children were not adopted out, nor were they, in the usual sense of the word, fostered. Though government sponsored, the sending and receiving agencies were for the most part Christian charities who shared this goal and saw their work as inherently noble. There were also schemes for older youths, best known being the Dreadnought and Big Brother Movement 'Youth' migrants actually outnumbered child migrants.” (Here in Canada , some 100,000 children were migrated under child labor schemes) Halifax , Nova Scotia 's Pier 21, served as one of the many receiving ports during the child migration schemes. These schemes ran until the 1980's. Excerpt from: http://www.restoringdignity.org/systemsof.html

Canadian Indian residential school system

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - The Canadian residential school system consisted of a number of schools for Aboriginal children, operated during the 20th century by churches of various denominations (about sixty per cent by Roman Catholics, and thirty per cent by the Protestants) and funded under the Indian Act by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, a branch of the federal government. The schools' purpose was "to take the Indian out of the Queen's Red Children"[citation needed] according to the Gradual Civilization Act which implemented the system.History: The first residential schools were set up during the French colonial rule in the 1600s by Roman Catholic missionaries. Their primary role was to convert First Nations children to Christianity. However, the First Nations people did not wish to be converted. Despite inducements from and pressure by the Society of Jesus and the colonial government, few students could be recruited for the schools, and those who did enroll frequently left during hunting season. Eventually the few students who attended either ran away permanently or refused to co-operate.[1]. Most schools did not last over a decade[citation needed].

WARDS OF THE CROWN - Systemic neglect of children.

At age 13, Andrée Cazabon was briefly placed in a group home. Marked by this experience, the filmmaker decided to track four young people for 10 months as they prepared to leave foster care. The result is Wards of the Crown,a stirring documentary about a little-known reality.Leaha, Andrew, Emily and Chantal are among the 66,000 youngsters in foster care in Canada. These four young people, all between 16 and 20 years old, give us a candid look at their lives. Beyond their personal stories, all four speak disdainfully about an inept, overburdened foster-care system. "Nobody has time for a depressed, suicidal thirteen-year-old," adds Emily. In addition to their sad revelations, Wards of the Crown spotlights a system that isn't working, as Claudette Mayheux, a director at the Children's Aid Society, readily admits. "Foster care must become a temporary, short-term solution," she advises. Though the comments are frank and heartbreaking, the documentary never adopts a sensationalist tone. The shocking disclosures have the ring of truth. With great empathy and a real gift for listening, the filmmaker skilfully blends the four stories. "When kids become wards of the Crown, does their mother become Queen Elizabeth?" the filmmaker quips. Black humour is one weapon these young people have used to survive (and youngsters who are abandoned, rejected and unloved need their weapons). Beneath their protective shells is a lucidity these walking wounded were forced to learn at an early age, too early in fact. They are courageous souls, and with Wards of the Crown, Andrée Cazabon pays tribute to their incredible strength, generosity and resilience. Wards of the Crown was directed by Andrée Cazabon and produced by Robert Charbonneau & Marie-Pierre Gariepy of Les Productions Robert Charbonneau (Ottawa) in association with CBC Newsworld and in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada (Claudette Jaiko, producer). (http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/program_070306.html )

Woman with history of trauma misdiagnosed and retraumatized by wrongful treatment .

Anna Caroline Jennings (1960 - 1992) - Anna Jennings was sexually abused when she was less than three years old. This was the first of several abuses that occurred over her lifetime, and put a confused, frightened child into a mental health system that neither recognized nor treated Anna's real problem. Diagnosed "schizophrenic".. she was institutionalized for more than 12 years from age 15 to 32. Although she attempted to communicate the "awful things" that had happened to her, there was no one to listen, understand or help her. She took her life on October 24, 1992, on a back ward of a state mental hospital. Anna expressed her abuse vividly and poignantly through her sketches, oil paintings and water colors {see gallery}. Although she had no formal art training, her work is stark, sophisticated and haunting. Her work has been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, in many hospitals and at numerous conferences across the country. Both women and men with histories of trauma are commonly misdiagnosed and retraumatized by wrongful treatment {see articles}. Such maltreatment exacerbates their condition and perpetuates their need for costly emergency, acute and long term mental health services. Anna's hospitalization alone cost $2,639,360.00. This misuse of taxpayers' money and perpetuation of human tragedy must no longer be allowed to continue.(http://annafoundation.org/a-bio.html )

Medical abuse against children - "J" 's story.

Finding Normal - A small boy and his grandparents emerge from a lengthy ordeal of diagnoses and drugs.Children rely on the adults in their lives for care and support. When that support sometimes breaks down, other grownups are entrusted with special responsibilities —organizations like the Children's Aid Society and people like doctors, are brought in to make things better. This is a story about a boy who was heavily medicated over a period of time. He'd been misdiagnosed with several psychiatric conditions, and his medications were steadily increased after reports of more and more difficult behaviour. ( http://www.cbc.ca/national/news/normal/ )

Medical experiments on children - Second orphanage abuse suit filed.

A former resident of the Mount Herbert Orphanage is suing the P.E.I. and Nova Scotia governments. Roch Longueepee alleges the governments knew he was being abused, and didn't do enough to stop it. Longueepee claims he was beaten, deprived of emotional contact, and locked in a basement cellar for punishment.The P.E.I. and Nova Scotia governments, he alleges, were complicit in allowing he and his twin brother, who was also a resident of the orphanage, to be exploited without their consent for the purposes of "a twin case study" conducted at Nova Scotia and P.E.I. medical facilities.

Medical experiments on children - wrongful deaths.

Duplessis orphans want Mtl. burial site dug up. - A group of surviving "Duplessis Orphans" wants the current Quebec government to unearth an abandoned cemetery, which they say contains the bodies of orphans who were victims of medical experiments years ago.The Duplessis Orphans numbered about 20,000 children born to unwed mothers in 1940s and 50s, during the time of Quebec premier Marcel Duplessis' provincial reign.The children were taken in by the church and even though they were normal, they were deemed mentally deficient, so the church could get hefty government grants for their care. (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1087583290888_82992490/?hub=Canada)

FLDS leader Fugitive Jeffs Arrested in Las Vegas.

Warren Steed Jeffs, leader of a polygamous sect and one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives since May, was arrested Monday during a routine traffic stop in Las Vegas.The 50-year-old fugitive, wanted for alleged sex assaults in 2002, was a passenger in a late-model SUV that was stopped by a Nevada Department of Public Safety trooper for not displaying valid license plates. The trooper, who was specially trained to spot suspicious vehicles and in other homeland security procedures, recognized Jeffs from wanted posters. He was arrested without incident.