‘Thank you for your grace’: Hamilton CAS, Flamborough mental health facility apologize at inquest into teen’s death
The executive directors of the Children's Aid Society of Hamilton and Lynwood Charlton Centre emotionally apologized to Devon Freeman's grandmother and his First Nation and said they have been profoundly impacted by the inquest into the teen's death.
The 16-year-old was in the care of Hamilton CAS and living at Lynwood's Flamborough youth mental health residential facility when he disappeared in October 2017. His body was found more than six months later in a pine tree on the grounds of the Flamborough facility.
The long-awaited inquest began late September on Georgina Island, Devon's First Nation community. Despite legislative obligations Devon's band representative for Chippewas of Georgina Island didn't know he was missing until his death certificate arrived in the mail.
I personally apologize and apologize on behalf of Lynwood to Ms. (Pam) Freeman and Georgina Island," Lisa Whittaker, Lynwood's executive director said at the inquest Friday.
She has heard Devon's voice throughout the inquest and says she feels a responsibility to carry that voice with her always.
I will do everything within my ability to make that (change) happen," she said.
Hamilton CAS executive director Bryan Shone said he echoed Whittaker's comments, adding that he too will carry what he has heard with him in his career. He feels a deep sense of urgency" for change. The changes are Devon's legacy.
Speaking directly to Pam, he said: thank you for your grace and for being here every day though this."
Both took the top jobs at their organizations after Devon's death but said there were missed opportunities in his care. The inquest heard there has already been a number of changes, however, all agreed there is need for more. Some of the changes came about after internal reviews and there is also new provincial legislation. Among the legislated changes is the obligation for child welfare organizations and those providing care to children and youths to not just inform a First Nation, but meaningfully work with them. That means band representatives and families are now involved in meetings and plans of care.
Despite the changes both CAS and Lynwood said there are funding challenges, including internally and no funding for First Nations communities to deal with the influx of calls and requests to work with child welfare agencies.
The inquest has heard a repeated issue was a lack of information sharing in Devon's case. No one organization or person involved in Devon's care knew everything, including about several previous suicide attempts. While communication has improved, there are still barriers including organizations having internal databases that are not shareable and the fact that each has its own plan of care for a youth that are sometimes at odds with each other. Fundamentally there is a call to reshape how agencies can proactively work with families and young people based on their needs.
The inquest has heard from a series of expert panels about systemic changes. Earlier on Friday there was a panel that looked at policing practices, including ways to improve relationships with Indigenous communities and best practices around missing persons and searches.
Mark Pritchard, a retired OPP commander, and lawyer Mark Sandler outlined recommendations that come out of past reviews including the Broken Trust report into systemic racism at Thunder Bay police and the Missing and Missed report about how Toronto police handle missing persons cases.
The panel spoke about the importance of engaging with marginalized communities and the need to change how seriously police take missing person cases, especially cases like Devon where someone has repeatedly run away. Much of the comments echoed what Hamilton police missing person co-ordinator Sgt. Kim Walker said, including wanted a dedicated missing person unit in Hamilton and improvements to risk assessments.
Pritchard agreed Devon's case should have been immediately assessed as a level 1" high priority. It was not and the grounds of Lynwood were never searched before his body was found.
Sanders noted that missing person cases are often passed between front line officers leaving communities feeling that police don't care and making it hard for officers to be motivated to seriously deal with disappearances.
Pritchard pointed to a model used by Saskatoon police where there is a designated missing person officer always on duty. It reduces calls for service, he said.
Both spoke about the need to look at the causes of why someone is disappearing. If you work with the community on prevention, you can reduce the number of missing person cases.
The inquest also heard Thursday from a panel of Indigenous psychologists Dr. Ed Connors and Dr. Brenda Restoule, who spoke about the importance of the Indigenous model of healing. Instead of looking at young people as having problems to fix, an Indigenous perspective sees them as having gifts and strengths that can be discovered through connections to community and the land. The Indigenous wellness framework looks at purpose, hope, meaning and belonging. At its foundation is culture.
The inquest continues Monday.
Nicole O'Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com