The Yukon Party is claiming that Education Minister Jeanie McLean contravened the Child and Youth Advocate Act.

The accusation arises from Child and Youth Advocate Annette King’s report on the Hidden Valley Elementary School sex abuse scandal tabled in the legislature Oct. 12.

In the report, it is stated that “In refusing to co-operate with the review, the Department of Education was in contravention of the Child and Youth Advocate Act.”

In a press release, the YP cited a Star story published Aug. 6, 2021.

In it, McLean said the Child and Youth Advocate had no authority to investigate how her government handled the crisis at the school involving former educational assistant William Auclair-Bellemare.

He pleaded guilty to sexual interference involving a child at the school in 2020, and subsequently served a jail term. The government chose not to inform school community parents of these events.

The YP notes the article quotes the minister as saying: “…it is the view of the Government of Yukon that the Child and Youth Advocate office does not have the legal authority to conduct the kind of review that has been proposed.”

“On top of finding the Liberal government has continued to fail children, the CYAO report found the minister contravened the act,” said YP justice critic Brad Cathers.

“The minister needs to explain why she contravened the Child and Youth Advocate Act and apologize to the Child and Youth Advocate for trying to deny her the ability to use her lawful authority to launch an investigation.”

Cathers raised the matter in question period Monday, asking, “Is the minister aware that her initial response to the Child and Youth Advocate was in fact a contravention of the Child and Youth Advocate Act?”

McLean responded by saying, among other things, that “We absolutely worked with the Child Advocate and provided her with all of the information that she required to do her report.”

Cathers tried again.

“Mr. Speaker, I have to remind the minister: the advocate’s report tabled last week specifically singled out the minister for her comments in the Whitehorse Star in August last year.

“The advocate’s report says — and I quote: ‘… the authority of the Advocate was publicly brought into question by the minister of Education.’

“So, the Advocate is very clearly singling out the minister’s comments here. The Advocate then went on in her report to clearly say that this is a contravention of the act,” Cathers noted.

“What is the minister’s response to the report stating that she contravened the Child and Youth Advocate Act?”

McLean again responded from her speaking notes.

“We’re working closely with the Child and Youth Advocate on other reviews such as the Jack Hulland Elementary systemic review, and we’ll continue to work closely with her,” the minister advised the house.

Cathers tried a slightly different tactic – with similar results.

“Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the minister’s initial response to the Child and Youth Advocate’s notification letter had a negative impact on families affected,” he said. Here is what the Advocate’s report says: Education ‘… stated they were not in support of the Advocate’s review advancing as presented.’

“Education ‘… did not respond to the concerns addressed in the Advocate’s notification, further enraging parents and community members.’

“The fact is that the minister and her department’s initial response to the Child and Youth Advocate’s review contributed to the anger and mistrust between the school community and this Liberal government,” Cathers said.

“Once again, Mr. Speaker, will this minister apologize for contravening the act?”

McLean fired back at the Yukon Party: “I do have a question for the member opposite about their handling of these matters in 2015. I think that they owe Yukoners an answer in response to the way that they dealt with the first allegations against this individual.”

The Yukon Party held government in 2015.

Opposition Leader Currie Dixon didn’t respond to McLean’s query. Instead, he continued to grill her, asserting that McLean did not have children’s best interests in mind during the crisis.

“Last week, the Child and Youth Advocate’s report that was tabled in the legislature made one thing very clear: not only were children not prioritized, but their rights were violated,” Dixon said.

“The report found that the Liberal government’s ‘incredibly poor handling of the situation’ caused harm. Despite this, last week, the minister repeatedly told the legislature that the well-being of children was at the heart of the government’s response.”

Dixon wanted to know: “How does the minister explain this extreme discrepancy between what she has told the legislature and the Child and Youth Advocate’s report that she herself tabled last week?”

McLean responded, “I have stated many, many times — and I will continue to say — that at the heart of this issue are our children and their well-being, safety, and protection.

“We at the Department of Education, when children are in our care, take this very seriously. We are focused on taking the needed steps to rebuild the trust and provide the best targeted supports to the school community.”

Following Question Period, Dixon told reporters, “This is something that we had raised last year and had asked questions about and in response to reporting in the Whitehorse Star, where the minister had indicated … that she felt the government of Yukon’s position was that the Child Youth Advocate did not have the legal authority to conduct the review. This was an early attempt by the government to stymie the Child Youth Advocate’s work.”

Eventually, Dixon noted, “they came around and agreed to work with the Child Youth Advocate’s report or Child Youth Advocate’s office. However, I found it remarkable that the Child Youth Advocate’s report noted that those actions and those comments by the minister were in direct contravention of the act.”