Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 22, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba a4 Winnipeg free press tuesday August 22, 2006 top news child welfare system suspicious death prompts Case review by Mia Rabson a review is expected of the Way Manitoba a child welfare system dealt with a three year old girl who died in suspicious circumstances last week in Western Manitoba. Venecia Shanelle Audy died aug. 14. Police were told she had fallen Down the front Steps of her Home in the Village of Bowsman 19 Kilometres North of Swan River but the results of an autopsy caused officials to treat the death As suspicious and an investigation is under Way. After the death was reported Provin Cial officials discovered Venecia had once been a client of the child and fam ily services system and children a advocate Billie Schibler has been asked to look into the Case. It is the second time in less than six months Schibler has been asked to see whether the child welfare system failed a child it had once been called on to protect. A spokesman for family services minister Christine Melnick said the review was being done out of the spokesman initially reported Venecia a cos file had been closed More than two years ago. But later in the Day he said the department uncovered a More recent Contact with the Little girl and now says there was no child Protection involvement for the last 12 he would give no details of the file including whether the girl had Ever been placed in Foster care or what kind of involvement cos had had with her. Police report Venecia was living with her Mother Melissa and her three Sib Lings in Bowsman. Earlier this year the province asked Schibler to review the Case of five year old Phoenix Sinclair whose tragic life and death caused the entire provincial child welfare system to go under the Microscope. Phoenix who had been in and out of Foster care most of her life was killed in june 2005, three months after her Case file with cos was closed. Her death was not noticed until March 2006, after her 12-year-old Stepbrother came Forward. Her Mother and her mothers now for Mer common Law Boyfriend have both been charged with first degree murder. In addition to reviewing Phoenix Scase specifically Melnick asked Schibler to look at the cases of 14 other children who died in 2004 and 2005 while receiving cos services. She also asked Schibler to investigate the policies around social worker Case loads and Case file open Ings closings and transfers. On top of that the provinces four cos authorities asked their social workers to do a face to face head count of All 12,000?plus children in care or receiving ser vices from cos to ensure they were Safe and accounted for. Toews eyes end to pre trial hearings by Paul Samyn Ottawa ? Federal Justice minister Vic Toews has put preliminary inquiries in his sights saying it May be time to end the pre trial hearings to ease a grow ing backlog of court cases. Toews latest Legal musing which he made Public yesterday at a meeting of the country a police chiefs echoes a Call that Manitoba Justice minister Gord Mackintosh made four years earlier when he argued the entrenched Legal practice was a remnant of the the sentiment shared by the Federal Justice minister is consistent with the position we have Long held in Manitoba Mackintosh spokesman David Leibl said. We Are pleased the Federal Justice min ister has signalled his intention to study eliminating preliminary in St. Johns n.l., Toews Provencher said its time to consider reducing or eliminating preliminary inquiries that can add to the length and Cost of criminal cases. We need to look at the system to see what is adding value to the system and what is no longer adding value Toews said after speaking at the annual con Ference of the Canadian association of chiefs of police. I think that there a some Strong feel Ings in various quarters that preliminary hearings have outlived their preliminary hearings Are designed to prevent cases without adequate Evi Dence from proceeding to trial by allow ing defence attorneys to question witnesses and to see the prosecutions Case. When Mackintosh began calling for an end to preliminary inquiries statistics from the Canadian Centre for Justice showed cases tried with a pre trial hear ing take an average of 233 Days com pared to 77 Days for cases without one. University of Manitoba Law professor David Deutscher said the debate Over preliminary inquiries has been going on for decades and he does to expect the latest attack on the Legal practice that Canada inherited from Britain will go far. I doubt very much that he Toews will try to ram something through on this one Deutscher said. As it stands now Federal and Provin Cial attorneys general have the Power to bypass preliminary inquiries via direct indictments a practice routinely used in Manitoba and other provinces in the cases of organized crime and drug offences. Deutscher suspects there is a political pattern to Toews headline grabbing which follows on the heels of last weeks speech when he talked about the possibility of bringing Law breaking minors As Young As 10 into the Justice system. The tories obviously have a Law and order Agenda but my suspicion is that the stuff coming out now is More contentious. What Toews is in effect doing is throwing out trial with files from up. features than you Ever thought possible including Voicemail Call waiting and Call display. 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