How is it not blazing front page news across Canadian media, that Alberta’s Human Services, who are meant to protect our most vulnerable citizens, have under-reported by some 300%  the deaths of babies in government care over the past several years?

How is it that they can say a Public Inquiry would cost too much? I heard that on the CBC yesterday morning. It is not a surprise that most of the babies in question are Aboriginal. And it is truly unfortunate to hear the Minister of Human Services this morning, artfully directing thought toward how people get into these tragic situations, where they are unable to care for their families.

How sick is it that I can so easily, based on the ilk of commentary i read about any Aboriginal story in online media,  imagine the ilk of commentary that this sort of redirection toward victim-blaming engenders?

 “Those %@* Indians just want more money. Even the dead babies are whining for our money!” I wish I hadn’t read and heard enough to know this sort of comment to be entirely in tune with the current mood ‘out there’ … at least, in the parts of our society that are themselves still victims  – of systemic amnesia, suppression of true history, and misdirection that encourages them to blame victims.

Sincerely, i pray that people truly think this through. Babies and small children are coming to harm, are dying, while in the care of a government agency that arrogates (at our assumed request as the public) to take charge of them when their families are judged as too dysfunctional to care for those kids.

What does the dysfunction look like, that leads to governmental intervention?

As i understand it, dysfunctional families typically hide abuse, lie about their problems, close ranks against anyone who might question what’s going on. What are we to make, then, of the interveners hiding the vast majority of the deaths that happen when these intervening agents have taken over care of the children of ‘dysfunctional’ families?

As i understand it, the dysfunctional families who fall into government intervention typically lack the money to hide the abuses. And when it comes to intervention, they are generally able to identify lack of money, lack of resources, as a main problem. These parents aren’t too likely to easily admit that if they didn’t drink or smoke the money, there would be a significant increase in capacity to care for their kids.

What are we to make then, of a government whose first response to calls for public inquiry is that ‘it would cost a lot of money’? How are these adults any more responsible to the dead babies and kids coming to harm, than those who were failing them in the home?

Our government is lying, hiding the deaths of our own citizens; the most vulnerable of our citizens. Our government is afraid to allocate resources to making public the problems that lead to these deaths, afraid of what?

Are we barbarians? Are we spineless? Let there be an outcry for a public inquiry!  And let it happen before more babies are killed and their deaths hidden, perpetuating shame, blame and inability for all of us to address the very human issues that affect families, whether under the one roof of a low-rent public housing for the poor,  or under the one roof of the public housing that is our legislature.

All my relations

ams