Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 06, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 EDITORIALS WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2014 Freedom of Trade Liberty of Religion Equality of Civil Rights A 10 COMMENT EDITOR: Gerald Flood 204- 697- 7269 gerald. flood@ freepress. mb. ca winnipegfreepress. com EDITORIAL EDITORIAL I T is high time Manitobans got a good idea of whether Manitoba's Office of the Children's Advocate has made real progress in its attempts to fix problems in the care delivered to children at risk of abuse or worse. Commissioner Ted Hughes, whose report on the inquiry into the death of little Phoenix Sinclair was released last week, says the best way to do this is to make the office truly independent of its political master, the minister of family services. Indeed, the children's advocate office is a creature of the Child and Family Services Act and its first duty is to advise the minister. While the advocate is an independent officer of the legislature, the office does not have its own legislation. Mr. Hughes recommended that be changed, and the advocate's mandate be expanded to include representing the interests of all children receiving services from any publicly funded body, not just kids in contact with child welfare agencies. Children's advocates have stretched the boundaries of their mandate to incorporate the concerns and issues of those in the care or receiving services from a variety of government funded agencies. The responsibility should be made formal in new legislation, as Mr. Hughes recommended. Former advocate Billie Schibler said she never felt pressure from the minister of family services, and felt she was independent of the government, presenting her annual reports to the House speaker. Ms. Schibler said, however, public perception was that she was tied to the Family Services department because her powers flowed from the CFS Act. Beefing up the power of the advocate's office through separate legislation, as laid out by Mr. Hughes, would formalize some of the current operations and improve the appearance of independence. Children and the public will be much better served, however, in the commission's recommendation to expand the office's role in investigating unexpected deaths of children receiving care from CFS to include critical injuries. Leaving those incidents to police investigation or a child welfare agency review alone limits the system's ability to ensure weaknesses in procedure or regulation are caught. Review in the case of death is important, but the lessons from the many more " near misses" can help prevent such fatal tragedies. Mr. Hughes also recommended the reviews of deaths, previously held confidential by the system, and critical injuries should be made public. Much of the telling testimony during the inquiry about the errors that ultimately allowed Phoenix Sinclair to disappear from the agencies' radar screens ( she was dead and buried nine months before anyone at CFS learned she was missing) had been unearthed in other reviews years prior to the inquiry, but the reports were hidden from the scrutiny of Manitobans. Effectively, that secrecy allows the system to hide its mistakes and gives Manitobans little understanding of weaknesses and what fixes might be made. In fact, the inquiry heard, the findings and recommendations out of various reviews after Phoenix's death weren't even shared with the front line workers, including those who erred in her care. This must change, as Mr. Hughes describes. Fundamental to that shift is public accountability, and that requires publicly releasing the advocate's reviews of deaths and critical injuries to children. S ENIOR officials at the City of Winnipeg need a course on the meaning of open government, transparency and accountability. Judging by the way they responded to a request under freedom of information legislation, it's clear they don't have a clue. They also appear to be seized by the mistaken idea they are the government. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation had asked for a traffic study for the new Route 90 fire hall, but the information was denied twice for invalid reasons. Civic officials initially denied the request because they wrongly believed Shindico Realty, which built the fire hall, had a right of refusal. The company did not want it released. The taxpayers federation appealed to the Manitoba Ombudsman, which said Shindico had no such rights. Then the city turned down the request because it was deemed to be advice to government. Again, the ombudsman ruled the city was wrong. If that wasn't bad enough, two councillors on a civic committee considering the issues, including a former member of executive policy committee, said they weren't even aware a traffic study had been conducted. That means most of council was kept in the dark, too. Some information in the study has still been withheld, including an analysis of traffic flows at the Route 90 site, and conclusions and recommendations about the merits of building in that location. There's no good reason why this information should be withheld. The city routinely conducts and releases traffic studies to council, which needs the information to make decisions. The city does not have a great reputation for transparency, and some of its decisions have been downright bizarre, such as the refusal several years ago to give a citizen a list of planned street repairs, despite the fact the same list had been released to the news media a week earlier. It also demands exorbitant fees for simple facts, including a case two years ago when it demanded $ 26,000 to tell journalism students how many children had been injured on playgrounds owned by the city. Other levels of government can be tightfisted with information, too, but the city has too often exhibited signs it either does not understand freedom of information legislation, or just doesn't care. The Manitoba Ombudsman should organize a seminar for civic officials to educate them on the basics of transparent government. W ITH the Canadian Olympic Committee very close to finalizing its roster of athletes who will represent Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Olympic fever builds in Canada. Yet the athletes face pressures and uncertainty unheard of for previous generations of Olympians. Concerns about terrorism, homophobia, free speech and athlete safety have been widely discussed, but half of our Canadian athletes face one additional uneasy prospect: the possibility of having to assure a committee of " experts" they are eligible to compete in the women's events. As has been the case throughout the history of the Olympics, sex verification requirements are only for women. Originally, a doctor's note declaring a competitor to be a woman sufficed. With such a note, the International Olympic Committee issued a " femininity certificate." As Cold War tensions helped increase the perceived worth of women's sports, female athletes had to participate in " nude parades" to show they were women. These involved marching in front of a panel of doctors. Records show this happened at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica and the 1967 Pan- American Games in Winnipeg. Prior to the 1968 Olympics, the medical commission of the IOC developed an alternative to the nude parades. From 1968- 1999, women athletes had to prove they had XY chromosomes - the pattern typically associated with females. This process was considered a vast improvement over the nude parades - until it was recognized the test was not entirely accurate, and that people with a female body type could possess chromosomal patterns beyond the standard XY. The IOC abandoned the chromosome test prior to the 2000 Olympics. But that decision did not spell the end of sex testing. As anyone following the plight of South African runner Caster Semenya in 2009 remembers, sex testing is alive and well in the Olympics. Sex testing now involves a team of biological sex and gender experts running a battery of tests. To be cleared to run, Semenya had to undergo a visual examination of her body, chromosome testing, a gynecological exam, organ X- rays and a lengthy interview. The International Association of Athletics Federations initiated the investigation based on concerns expressed in media sources about Semenya's masculine appearance. It then released a new policy in 2011 that remains in force today. The policy defines women not based on their bodies, chromosomes, or doctors' assurances, but on their functional testosterone levels. Women can be required to participate in the sex testing process if the IOC's medical commission has suspicions the athlete is intersex or has what the policy describes as a disorder of sexual development. The goal of the policy is to ensure women with high testosterone levels do not have unfair advantages over their competitors. Yet strong, muscular women who dress in masculine- typical clothing must beware. Recent photos of Semenya show the once selfdeclared tomboy looking noticeably different. Since being " approved" to compete in the women's category, she is photographed frequently with long hair, wearing makeup, and often sporting pink attire. With only one known incident of a man competing in a women's event in the Olympic movement's 118- year history - a German high jumper in the 1930s - the policy has been critiqued heavily by feminist sports advocates and scholars. The Canadian government released a statement last week aimed at educating visitors to Sochi on security precautions. With threats of terrorism looming over the Olympics, it is not surprising the issue of sex verification has fallen from the forefront of Olympic controversies. Yet Canadian athletes will risk some of their basic human rights to compete at the world's premier sporting event. We owe it to them to challenge the continued application of this flawed policy, and to ensure none of them face the invasive scrutiny Caster Semenya experienced. Sarah Teetzel is an assistant professor of kinesiology and recreation management at the University of Manitoba. SARAH TEETZEL No to sex- tests of female Olympians ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Caster Semenya celebrates after winning gold at the world championships in Berlin in 2009. Tell city officials they don't govern Independent, open advocate for children A_ 12_ Feb- 06- 14_ FP_ 01. indd A10 2/ 5/ 14 6: 44: 14 PM ;