Ontario to overhaul child protection laws in response to Katelynn Sampson inquest: source
The province is moving to overhaul Ontario's child protection laws, with legislation in response to the Katelynn Sampson inquest expected to be tabled at Queen's Park Thursday afternoon.
One of the most dramatic changes would be giving children a say in the decisions made about their welfare, a government source says of the bill. That's what emerged as the main recommendation from a coroner's jury probing how both the child welfare and education systems failed to protect the seven-year-old girl.
Katelynn was killed by her guardians in August 2008.
NDP child and youth services critic Monique Taylor already tabled a private member's bill in November, dubbed Katelynn's Principle, which urged the province to recognize children as individuals. It would have given any child in Ontario's education, child welfare or youth justice systems the right to contribute to decisions about their care.
Katelynn's Principle
The government's bill being introduced Thursday, however, may include additional reforms, the source told CBC Toronto.
Child and Youth Services Minister Michael Coteau will make an announcement at Covenant House Toronto tomorrow afternoon after he tables the bill in the Legislature.
Katelynn Sampson died from complications of blunt force trauma, but forensic evidence showed that followed months of beatings and neglect. Her legal guardians, Donna Irving and Irving's boyfriend Warren Johnson, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years.
The coroner's inquest into the girl's death studied why institutions and agencies like the Toronto District School Board and the Children's Aid Society of Toronto failed to protect Katelynn from abuse. The jury issued 173 recommendations in April.
