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Date: Friday,
September 26, 2003 Minutes 1. Letter sent to Minister and Doug Allen Linda announced that there had been no response to the Coalition’s letter regarding Children and Adult Services transferring together that was sent on Sept 17. The letter will be posted on the CLC website. The question of whether to make a follow-up letter or phone call was postponed until after the update on the IA. 2. Update on the Allen Report Laney reported that the Minister came to the IA Board meeting to “foreshadow” the report. The report will be presented to the Premier and Cabinet next Wednesday, Oct 1. An independent panel of 3 people will be formed to review readiness of CLBC. The Allen report will be on the MCFD website soon. Majority of the items on the report deal with the Children and Family Development side of the Ministry. During the IA Board meeting, the bulk of the discussions were on the issue of children and adult services, with the Minister’s comments summarized as follows:
The Family members on the Board reacted strongly to this position, stating in many different ways, their concern about the need for Children's CL services to transfer with Adult services. The Minister later stated that the Children and Adults would transfer at the same time, but only if the readiness criteria have been met by CLBC. Doug Walls reported that there are 2 pieces to the readiness criteria. The first is the Readiness Criteria drafted by KPMG, which has 1500 items (42 pages). This has been negotiated by the IA down to 400 items (9 pages), of which 80-85% has been done. The second piece is the Letter of Instruction in its original form, which called for a “service-delivery model”. The Ministry and staff support this, so it is not a concern for the community. Doug also reported that CLBC will accept responsibility for Children and Adults together, but the focus is on the risk for Children, which is greater than for Adults. Our case, therefore, needs to be bulletproof. He also stated that Doug Allen may expand the readiness criteria, but is will be in the direction that the community wants. Finally, Doug also reported that the Minister has no one in mind for the Independent Panel. Agreement: Upon the suggestion of the Coalition, David Driscoll agreed to open up the IA Board Meeting on October 7 to everyone so that the Coalition will be as current as everyone else. The meeting will be in the afternoon of Oct 7 (Tues), 12:30-2:30 pm at the Blue Horizon Hotel on Robson. The Coalition expressed their appreciation to the IA Board from the community for their work and their zeal in representing the interests of the community. The IA staff were also acknowledged and thanked for their hard work. 3. Update on Children’s Issues Cathy Anthony reported that the Coalition’s position paper has been distributed to Child Development Centers. She recommended that the Coalition defer action on this issue for now since there are too many things going on, e.g. Minister’s meeting with service providers. The Supported Child Care paper has been forwarded to the members of the Refocus Group led by Marie Watts. There will be community consultations throughout October. The announcement will be circulated when it comes out. It was agreed that there should be a Coalition member at each of the community meetings. The Coalition agreed to form a small group composed of Angela, Caron and Laney to track developments on this issue. 4. Other IA Updates On the governance issue, David reported that the IA has been given a preview of the ad on the methods for appointment to the Board. It is now looking to be a corporate board, with an anticipated 9 members. The ad, which is expected to come out on Oct 17 will bring closure to this Board issue. The IA will put forward 8 names (those who would like to serve) and ask that 4 be appointed to the CLBC Board. This will ensure continuity. David also said that he had insisted that the criteria specifically mention that some must be self-advocates, as opposed to just mentioning the technical qualifications required. He also said that the Minister has accepted that there is no reason for a corporate board not to be a community board as well (where community board, composed of constituents and advocates, is perceived to have a narrower interest). In terms of process, the appointments will go through the full Board Resourcing and Development Office (BRDO) process this time, unlike appointments to time-bound IA Board, which was a summary process. Under the full BRDO process, the Minister prepares the list of names, but the BRDO has some discretion over the selection. All cabinet ministers also have an equal say in the appointments, not only Minister Hogg. In the end, it is a political and, possibly, arbitrary decision. There will be an announcement on the MCFD website and an application form. The Coalition members are encouraged to identify/vet people as possible Board members. The website of the BRDO is at: http://www.gov.bc.ca/bvprd/bc/channel.do?action=ministry&channelID=-8627&navId=NAV_ID_province Klaus suggested for David Driscoll to apply for a CLBC Board position, to which David stated that he will do so only if the Coalition wills it and supports it. On a motion from Klaus, the Coalition Requested that David Driscoll put his name forward for the CLBC Board and that the coalition fully supports his nomination. Regarding the legislation, the Minister is pushing for Spring 2004, with the CLBC to be up and running immediately thereafter. For this to happen, the legislation must be introduced before March 15 (House sessions start Feb 13). Doug Walls said that he is confident that the all the readiness criteria will be met by December 2003. 5. Other Business (a) FYI-Shiela Orr (MLA-Victoria Hillside) has been appointed as an Estimates Leader for the MCFD. All ministries will have a Caucus member as estimates leader to look at the Ministry’s budget. (b) FYI- the chairs of the 5 Child welfare planning committees and 5 aboriginal committees are coming together to talk about sharing of policy. The CL chair will be on this as well. (c) The announcement of the Community Governance workshop facilitated by John Lord was circulated, It will also be posted at the CLC website. The workshop will be on Oct 16 (Thurs), 1:00-4:00 PM at the BACI. (d) The IFFC will meet to revisit its mission and connect with each other on Oct 4 (Sat), 2:00-4:00 pm at the Hyatt Regency after the CACL Conference. 6. Next Meeting The next Coalition meeting will be on Oct 16 (Thurs), 4:00-6:00 PM at BACI after the John Lord-facilitated workshop. The agenda will focus on vetting of nominations to CLBC Board. A discussion on Mental Health will also be included in the agenda. Adjournment at 12:10pm |
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