1204 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Provincially funded housing complex on Tsawout land a first

 

B.C. is the first province to put its own money into on-reserve housing — typically a federal responsibility

 

B.C. Housing provided $6.1 million in funding for the project through the Indigenous Housing Fund, and is providing annual operating funding of about $536,000.

 

_________________________

 

The new building is owned by the Salish Sea Housing Society and located on “certificate of possession” land leased to it by the Underwood Family Trust. The Victoria Native Friendship Centre is the property manager.

 

 

 

 

So, this is a 28-unit building.  Rent is geared to income, no more than 30%.  But that operating funding is equivalent to $1,595 per month, per unit.  Where is all that money going?  The building is paid for, there is no mortgage, do not know what the lease details are, I suppose they have to pay some amount to the band (or the Underwood Family Trust).

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 17 November 2023 - 11:47 PM.

[max.bravo]

I'm not the type for trigger warnings, but this story contains details about the death of a child. 

 

https://www.timescol...i-boy-6-7890923

 

 

 

Mother, stepfather plead guilty to manslaughter in death of Port Alberni boy, 6

An agreed statement of fact revealed in horrifying detail how Dontay Patrick Lucas was brutalized by his mother and stepfather for a period of four months.

 

Warning: This story contains details about the abuse of a child.

 

The mother and stepfather of a six-year-old Port Alberni boy have pleaded guilty to manslaughter in his suspicious death five years ago.

Rykel Charleson, 29, and Mitchell Frank, 30, were initially charged with the first-degree murder of Dontay Patrick Lucas on March 13, 2018. On Monday, they pleaded guilty to the lesser included offence of manslaughter in the death of the young boy, who was of Hesquiaht descent.

 

Dontay had been removed from his mother at birth and spent most of his childhood in foster care, according to the document, read into the court record by Crown prosecutor Kimberly Henders Miller. On Nov. 17, 2017, Dontay was transitioned back into the care of his mother and stepfather.

 

First responders arrived at 9:28 a.m. but were not able to revive Dontay. The boy was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead. The physician noted extensive bruising on his body that was not consistent with a fall down the stairs, said Henders Miller.

Dontay also had several blunt force trauma injuries to his head and was suffering from multiple respiratory viruses and bacterial infections. Both the blunt force head trauma and the respiratory illness were severe, said Henders Miller.

 

The cause of death was determined to be severe blunt force head trauma.

 

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Michael Tammen has ordered the preparation of a Gladue report for both offenders to assist at their sentencing in mid-May. Gladue reports help judges consider the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.

 

What is a Gladue Report? It's the legislative mechanism that will ensure this mother who murdered her own child will not face serious consequences.

I assume we will blame residential schools and colonialism for this murder.

https://nwac.ca/asse...t-Is-Gladue.pdf

 

 

Gladue refers to a right that Aboriginal People have under section 718.2 (e) of the Criminal Code.

 

Gladue is a sentencing principle which recognizes that Aboriginal Peoples face racism and systemic discrimination in and out of the criminal law system, and attempts to deal, with the crisis of overrepresentation /inequities of Aboriginal Peoples in custody, to the extent possible, through changing how judges sentence. Gladue instructs judges, when sentencing or setting bail, to consider: “all available sanctions other than imprisonment that are reasonable in the circumstances, with particular attention to” the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.” Gladue and other changes to the criminal code, give judges discretion to use sanctions outside of the mainstream prisons for Aboriginal women and men when appropriate

 

You have to wonder why this boy was taken out of foster care and returned to the custody of his parents (who murdered him) in the first place.

I wonder if it has to do with BC's policy on Kinship Caregivers? 

https://www2.gov.bc....hildrenandyouth

 

 

Did you know?

Indigenous children and youth have an inherent right to remain connected to their parents, family, community, customs, traditions, language and territory. These rights are grounded in law. Read more here: BC passes historic legislation to uphold Indigenous jurisdiction over child welfare | BC Gov News

 

To me, it looks like woke BC policies resulted in the death of an innocent child. Taking the boy out of foster care and placing him with his family who murdered him... is what happens when you prioritize political correctness over actual safety and good judgment.

 

What a sad, sad story. I hope these parents burn in hell. 

Edited by max.bravo, 28 November 2023 - 10:09 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

To me, it looks like woke BC law's like this one resulted in the death of an innocent child. What a sad, sad story. 

 

It's not a good situation that's for sure.  But sometimes it's the 20/20 hindsight.  People at school saw his bruises, too bad no better investigation took place then.

 

What is a Gladue Report? It's the legislative mechanism that will ensure this mother who murdered her child will not face any serious consequences. I assume we will blame residential schools and colonialism for this murder of a 6 year old boy by his own mother. 

 

 

It'll reduced her sentence severity, for sure.

 

But this is already going to be a light sentence, as they allowed them to plead to the lesser crime of manslaughter.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 November 2023 - 10:09 AM.

[Nparker]

Even as an atheist I hope there is a hell with a special place for this woman to suffer for all eternity.

[Victoria Watcher]

The biography of Buffy Sainte-Marie on her official website no longer claims she is a Cree woman "likely" born on the Piapot First Nation in Saskatchewan. 

 

The changes were made on Buffysainte-marie.com days after CBC released its Oct. 27 investigation that questioned the famous singer's decades-long claim to Cree ancestry. 

 

In her first statement to CBC News since the investigation published, Sainte-Marie wrote that she removed material from her website in order to limit the "criticism, threats and abuse" supporters who have defended her in public have faced since the investigation was published. 

 

"I have an obligation to protect them," her emailed statement said. "And it is for that reason alone that I have limited my public engagement and removed facts from my website that you are now trying to use to build more controversy."

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...bsite-1.7042481

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 November 2023 - 08:18 AM.

[dasmo]

She should just tell the CBC to GFTS.

[Victoria Watcher]

Child services failed boy killed by his mother and stepdad, father says

 

“My boy shouldn’t have been there. They had alcohol and drugs going on in the home,” says the father of six-year-old Don-Tay Patrick Lucas.

 

A six-year-old Port Alberni boy killed by his mother and stepfather would be alive today if USMA Nuu-chah-nulth Family and Child Services had acted on reports from a concerned neighbour, says the child’s grieving father.

 

Don-Tay Patrick Lucas was failed by the child-protection agency when he was returned to his mother’s home, despite numerous reports that she and her partner were partying every day, and children could be heard screaming in the house, said Patrick Lucas.

 

The neighbour also called the RCMP numerous times, he said.

 

“My boy shouldn’t have been there. They had alcohol and drugs going on in the home,” said Lucas. “But nothing was done about it.”

 

Don-Tay died on March 13, 2018 from blunt-force trauma injuries to the brain. His mother, Rykel Charleson, and stepfather, Mitchell Frank, pleaded guilty to manslaughter this week. The couple were initially charged with first-degree murder.

 

Staff at the boy’s school noticed bruises on the boy, according to an agreed statement of facts read into the court record. Lucas said both Don-Tay and his sister told a school counsellor they were being hit and abused at home but they weren’t believed.

 

_______________________

 

On Tuesday, Nuu-chah-nulth president Judith Sayers told CHEK News that there was no wrongdoing by USMA and that Don-Tay’s death “was just a very tragic set of circumstances.”

 

Lucas, however, called that “total bull——.”

 

Sayers could not be reached for comment.

 

An audit of USMA child and family services by the Ministry of Children and Family Development was completed in January 2019, nine months after Don-Tay’s death.

 

The audit found that the agency faced high staff turnover and long-term staff vacancies, resulting in higher caseloads and stress levels.

 

The audit, which is based on 77 child-service records, revealed that USMA had only 17 per cent compliance with its requirement to investigate alleged abuse or neglect in a family-care home.

 

The audit also found USMA had only 14 per cent compliance with developing a comprehensive plan of care for its wards.

 

More troubling, the audit found USMA had only one per cent compliance with the requirement that a social worker visit the child.

 

“Documentation of the social workers’ private contacts with children/youth in care met the standard in 1 of the 77 records. Of the 76 records rated not achieved, 12 did not have confirmations that the children and youth had visits of any kind with their social workers,” said the audit.

 

The report concludes that overall compliance with child service standards was 56 per cent.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...er-says-7908524

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's atrocious, why does this organization still have a government contract?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 December 2023 - 06:30 AM.

[E2V]

Taken from a foster home where he was doing well and delivered into the hands of monsters. No reason except for one of them was Mom. The school says the signs of abuse appeared almost immediately yet his accounts were not believed. USMA claims understaffing, overwork and stress but investigation shows they do little or none of the work that’s expected of them. Where’s the accountability?

[Mike K.]

It's Usma, not sure why CHEK is spelling it USMA.

[max.bravo]

I can say firsthand there is no accountability for contractors to the BC government. Having both managed contracts for the province and been a contractor to the province, their contract management policy is so lax it’s a joke.

The official policy is basically to do nothing but ask nice for the contractor to fulfil their obligations. It takes a ridiculous amount of ongoing negligence to enforce remedies/penalties.

The public would be outraged if they saw how little government workers demand from contracted service providers. It always blew my mind.

[spanky123]

That's atrocious, why does this organization still have a government contract?

 

That is a rhetorical question right? Taxpayers just finished paying billions to FN for having permanently harmed them by forcing them to live with stable families and get an education. The solution was to have these children stay within their own communities and we now are seeing the results. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Well, we should not have a dual-nation system. The whole thing is nuts.

[E2V]

One nation, one law. It’s rapidly turning into something else.

[dasmo]

I don't know.... Perhaps the Two Nation thing is our hope as a country. At least theirs is sovereign. Ours is a "constitutional Monarchy" with a constitution our government says is "an opinion." 

 

The above tragedy and corrupt justice is actually our government at work.... Horrible people are everywhere, regardless of race or background. 

[Mike K.]

Usma is a FN organization, though, not a provincial ministry or org.

[dasmo]

They don't doll out the justice. Like I said, Horrible people are without boundaries of race or wealth. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Usma is a FN organization, though, not a provincial ministry or org.

 

But it operates under contract to the government.

 

And on one item (visits with children under their auspices) only provided services 1% of agreed-upon terms.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 December 2023 - 03:35 PM.

[Mike K.]

Yes, funded by government, but not a provincial organization. It’s a FN organization.

[Victoria Watcher]

The Canadian government likely owes Indigenous people almost $76 billion for currently filed land claims and lawsuits, recent official reporting says — a sum that's nearly seven times greater today than when Justin Trudeau became prime minister.

 

In 2015, Ottawa counted $11 billion in "contingent liabilities," which are potential legal obligations recorded only in cases where the probability of future payment is considered "likely," according to the 2023 public accounts of Canada.

 

This year's fall economic statement showed the vast majority of these liabilities — 95 per cent — stem from Indigenous claims against the Crown.

 

It's a spike the non-partisan parliamentary budget officer, who provides lawmakers with spending analysis, calls disconcerting.

 

"It is very, very significant," said Yves Giroux.

 

"It's a bit surprising to see these being multiplied by seven."

 

From the Liberal government's perspective, the increase means progress, according to Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree.

 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...laims-1.7058139

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 14 December 2023 - 03:44 AM.

[spanky123]

^ It means increased votes.