BC Conservatives demand inquest after January death of youth in government care

The BC Conservatives are calling on the province to launch a coroner’s inquest into the death of 18-year-old Chantelle Williams, who died while living in government care.

In January, Williams was found dead a few blocks away from the group home where she was living in Port Alberni.

The Indigenous teen died while in the care of Usma Nuu-chah-nulth Family and Child Services, an agency of the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

It’s still not clear what happened or how she died, but Williams’ family has been told she may have frozen to death.

Amelia Boultbee, the BC Conservatives’ children and family development critic, says Williams’ family has been trying to get a response from the provincial government since her death but only heard back after the issue gained public attention.

“Chantelle was very loved, and to lose a family member who’s only 18 years old, who had their whole life ahead of her, they’re just heartbroken and shattered, and the lack of responsiveness from this government is deepening their grief and their frustration,” Boultbee told 1130 NewsRadio.

Boultbee criticized the BC NDP for not responding urgently to the tragedy and for failing to address systemic issues in government care.

“I receive report after report after report about poor conditions, lack of supervision, and yes, even death happening coming out of this ministry, and particularly from group homes. So I absolutely believe that there is negligence on the part of this government,” Boultbee claimed.

In Victoria on Wednesday, Boultbee repeated a claim that 103 youth died while receiving government services last year. Jodie Wickens, minister of children and family development, disputed that figure as misleading.

“Eighty-nine of those children were receiving services,” Wickens explained. “What that means is that a child who is with their parent, who might be receiving something like speech and language services or counselling services, is counted in how we report child deaths in this province. Of the number that the member mentioned, 14 children who were in government care passed away.”

The annual report by the Representative for Children and Youth, from which Boultbee appears to have gotten the figure, says “of the 103 deaths, nine (nine per cent) were Indigenous children or youth in government care” in the period of April 2023 to March 2024.

Boultbee says the province has ignored repeated recommendations to improve the youth care system from the representative.

“The watchdog has been calling out this ministry for years and years and years. It’s a lack of political will, and I hope that by speaking out about what happened to Chantelle, we can start turning the public sentiment towards this, which will change that political will so that these recommendations do get implemented,” said Boultbee.

On Wednesday, Wickens responded that she had cleared her schedule to meet with the teen’s family if they were open to it, adding that her ministry does a review any time a child dies.

—With files from Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press