Children's Independent Representative Selects 3 P.G. Area Cases for Investigation

By 250 News

(Prince George, B.C). - B.C.’s new Independent Children’s representative, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, has chosen the deaths of three Prince George area children to be among the first four cases she will examine.

The death of Amanda Simpson, which a Coroner’s Jury ruled homicide, the death of three year old Savannah Hall, who died in a Prince George foster home in 2001, and the death of 7 month old Serena Wiebe of Ft. St. James who died in 2005 are the three deaths, which, along with the shaking death of 14 month old Rowen Von Niederhausern of Terrace make up the four Turpel-Lafond will probe.

Her full report is not expected until late 2008 as the Coroner’s inquests into the death of Savannah Hall and Serena Wiebe have yet to be conducted.

Unlike the Coroner’s inquest, Turpel –Lafond’s investigation will examine not only the child’s death, but the child’s life and the role the Ministry of Children and Families played in the lives of these children. 

Her recommendations are expected to address the system and how children can be better protected.

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