Family of youth accused in stabbing asked for help
The province is reviewing the case of a 15-year-old boy who is facing attempted murder and aggravated assault charges in connection with a stabbing attack on a city bus driver.
The teen’s grandfather said Friday that the family had tried to get help from the provincial government in the days before the teen is accused of attacking the driver.
“They could have stepped in and helped many, many times and they didn’t,” the man said in a telephone interview.
The boy cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act,
“I can confirm we are conducting an internal review of this case,” Children’s Services spokesman Brent Wittmeier said on Friday in an email to Postmedia.
He said the province can’t comment on the specifics of the case due to privacy provisions under the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act.
The 65-year-old victim was at the Mill Woods Transit Centre on Hewes Way in southeast Edmonton when the attack happened in the early hours of Sept. 26, police said. The bus driver, who was stabbed up to 13 times, was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to hospital suffering serious but non-life-threatening injuries. He was released from hospital later that day.
The youth is also charged with possession of an offensive weapon dangerous to the public and theft of a motor vehicle.
The 62-year-old grandfather said he is the teen’s guardian, and also cares for the boy ’s mother, his adult daughter, who is dealing with her own health issues.
“He’s my little man,” the boy’s grandfather said.
The grandfather said the boy used to be very “easygoing ” and a great skateboarder. But as he got older, the teen began using drugs and developed symptoms the grandfather describes as psychotic episodes. He dropped out of school and lost all his friends because of his mental-health challenges. He said they tried to get help in a number of ways, and that the youth spent some time in the hospital.
“We recognize that mental health and child intervention are complex systems and cannot be changed over night,” Wittmeier told Postmedia in a statement. “Our government is working with Indigenous leaders to ensure children don’t fall between the cracks.”
He also outlined a public-action plan launched three months ago, including improving the co-ordination of mental health, addiction and other early-intervention services.
The province is also creating an Indigenous advisory group focusing on the child-intervention system and will amend legislation in the fall to support Indigenous-led services, Wittmeier said.
Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Marlene Poitras called the incident heartbreaking and said it highlights how broken the mental-health and child-welfare systems are in Alberta.
“These systems failed this Indigenous teen and his family. Here is a family that reached out for assistance to get the help needed for their child, and intervention was not within reach,” she said in a statement Postmedia received Friday.
“Where is the effort by the Government of Alberta to ensure cracks in the systems are filled?” she said. “Jurisdiction over First Nations children belongs to First Nations, and this needs to be honoured and implemented to see true reform to these systems.”