Hold Governments Responsible for Deaths of Women Care Workers! Not One More Death!Two public inquiries have taken place in Alberta into the deaths of women care workers at their workplaces. They reveal the utter refusal by governments to provide what is needed to ensure the safety of women providing care for youth and adults with complex needs, and the well-being of those they care for. At the heart of the matter is the escalating anti-social offensive and determination to slash funding for social programs including the care of the severely developmentally disabled, and those with mental illnesses.
The small numbers of residents and staff in each home and large number of agencies and organizations involved make it difficult for staff to organize, and render the residents and staff less "visible." Most of the staff are unorganized and many are paid poverty-level wages, with staff shortages and lack of resources the norm. This model also makes it more difficult for families to advocate, as they did so successfully in forcing the Alberta government to back down and keep the Michener Centre open. The province has contracted out care as a means to divest itself of responsibility to provide safe working conditions and the conditions those in care require. Findings of the Public Inquiries into Deaths of Care WorkersIn 2002, Sharla Marie Collier, age 20, was sexually assaulted and killed by a youth in her care while they were alone. A Public Fatality Inquiry into Collier's death was held in 2007 and a report issued in 2008, six years after her death. In his report, Justice Lloyd P. Malin recommended that care workers should only be assigned to the care of a resident that the care worker can physically manage. He also stressed that all records about a resident must be available to care workers, and that specific training be provided about the conditions of residents under their care. He noted that the province's Occupational Health and Safety regulations on working alone did not address the situation of care workers working with potentially violent persons. Eighteen years after the death of Sharla, this is still the case. Youth care worker Valerie Wolski was killed in 2011. Six years later, in 2017, the report of the Public Fatality Inquiry into her death, written by Judge Bart Rosborough, was released. In the intervening period, another care worker, Diane McClement, 61, had been killed in 2012 while working in a home run by Camrose Community Connections. A youth in her care was charged with her murder. No public inquiry was called. At the time, Occupational Health and Safety would not even confirm if it was conducting an investigation. The government never issued a public report regarding her death.
Justice Rosborough referenced the Collier Report and repeated its recommendations. He wrote that "it would appear obvious that a diminutive Individual Supports Worker such as Wolski ought not to have been assigned responsibility for the care of a young and very large man" (who was 6'5" and between 250-300 pounds), particularly when a history of violent acts existed. The report repeated the recommendations of the Collier Report, and further that female care workers should not be assigned the exclusive care of residents who have previously expressed or demonstrated aggression toward females. The Report further noted that the underlying theme permeating the inquiry was that the government had no facilities suitable for the care of developmentally disabled persons with complex needs. Many people who testified spoke about this failure of the government, and noted the government's determination to close the Michener Centre and impose a group home model even when totally inadequate and unsuitable. Justice Rosborough concluded that there was no community resource available to the government Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) program that was capable of providing the level of safety required. Judge Rosborough asked whether Valerie Wolski would still be alive if the recommendations of the earlier Collier Report had been implemented. Try as he and the Inquiry Counsel might, they could not find out what, if anything, the government had done in response to the earlier public inquiry. He made the understated point that if experienced counsel and a judge appointed under the Fatalities Inquiry Act can't get information, it is unlikely that anyone could. There are no requirements in Alberta for governments to make public their response to a fatality inquiry. Reports of fatality inquiries can simply be put on a shelf and forgotten. Is this still the case after four women have died? Back in 2012, Occupational Health and Safety found PDD to have violated Health and Safety Standards and issued compliance orders requiring PDD to take measures to protect workers from the danger associated with working with high risk individuals. But these orders do not change the fact that Occupational Health and Safety directives about working alone do not address care workers in group homes or similar situations. The danger to their health and safety remains. Working women are taking the lead to demand Not One More Death! and to hold the government responsible for its refusal to do everything needed to ensure the safety of women care workers. Their lives are precious, not expendable! Working women are taking the lead through their actions on the basis that It is Up to Us! to organize to fight to bring about the needed changes.
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
Group homes have
become the model for youth in care, irrespective
of whether it is suitable or beneficial to them
or whether care can be provided safely. Group
homes may be run by community-based
organizations on a "not-for-private-profit"
basis or by companies established with the
motive of private profit. Most care workers are
women, and the public inquiries were told that
it is too difficult to recruit men for such low
wages. These women look after vulnerable youth,
and severely developmentally disabled adults,
often alone and without back-up. The families
and loved ones of the women who died all spoke
of their dedication to their job and concern for
the youth or young adults they cared for.
When the report
of the inquiry into Wolski's death was finally
released, the culpability of the government was
staggering. Wolski had agreed to take on the
care of a young man who was profoundly
developmentally disabled at a home under the
management of the Canadian Mental Health
Association (CMHA). Neither Wolski or the CMHA
were informed that he had a history of violent
behaviour, particularly towards women care
workers, or provided an accurate history or
assessment of his care needs. In fact they were
provided completely misleading information, such
as that the young man was a "teddy bear."
Indeed, staff from the CMHC stated they would
not have taken on his care if they had been
aware of the history of violence, as they were
not equipped to do so. 