James tabled documents that she says show that Solicitor General John Les misled the legislature when he said child deaths were being properly reviewed by the B.C. Coroners Service.
NDP Leader Carole James tabled documents that she says show that Solicitor General John Les misled the legislature.
(CBC)
The governing Liberals abolished the position of an independent B.C. Children's Commissioner in 2002. They said the coroner's office could handle the child death reviews.
In November 2005, Les told the legislature that B.C.'s chief coroner can independently enter any child death investigation and that the government has high standards when it comes to child death reviews.
But James said the NDP has obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act that show the B.C. Coroners Service has no legislative authority to review all child deaths.
"I want to be very clear. These documents explicitly show
the premier and the solicitor general knew that what they
were telling the public was not the truth."
James cites a document from the coroners service written in
September 2005 that says as many as 40 per cent of all child
deaths may not be reported to the coroner.