Committee set up to study children's deaths hasn't reported publicly in more than 2 years
CBC
At least 11 children known to the Department of Social Development died in 2022, according to figures provided by the province.
But a committee set up to study the deaths of children in New Brunswick hasn't publicly reported on what happened to those children and whether any lessons can be learned from their deaths.
The role of the child death review committee is to do a comprehensive review of the death of anyone 18 or under that was reported to a New Brunswick coroner, according to the committee's terms of reference.
The goal is to try "to understand how and why children die" and to improve the health and safety of children.
The chief coroner oversees the committee, which typically includes a lawyer, a pediatrician, a social worker, and an Indigenous representative, among others.
It was created after the death by neglect of two-year-old Jackie Brewer in Saint John in the late 1990s and has been publicly reporting on children's deaths since then, typically through news releases.
The public reporting is supposed to include the committee's recommendations and a summary of the circumstances of the child's death, without identifying details, to provide context around what happened, according to the committee's terms of reference.
But the chief coroner hasn't publicly reported on the committee's work since May 2021, and it's not clear why.
A written statement from chief coroner Heather Brander says a news release is issued when the committee makes recommendations following a review.
That would be a departure from the past, when a death was publicized even if the review generated no recommendations.
The statement doesn't explain why no news releases have been issued in more than two years, even though the committee has studied deaths during that time and made recommendations. The committee's terms of reference require the chief coroner to publicize the recommendations and a summary of what happened within 30 days of receiving the review.
Brander wasn't made available for an interview.
Former child and youth advocate Norm Bossé said the public has a right to know the committee's findings.
"What's at stake is the credibility of their work and the credibility of the whole system," Bossé said.
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