Review ordered for thousands of child-protection cases
Retired judge will examine fallout from Motherisk lab’s flawed hair tests, 1990-2015
For the next two years, a commission will review potentially thousands of Ontario child-protection cases that depended on flawed hair test results from the Hospital for Sick Children’s Motherisk laboratory, the provincial government announced Friday.
Retired provincial court judge Judith Beaman, considered a family law expert, was appointed last month as the independent commissioner who will look at cases that may have been affected by Motherisk hair test results between 1990 and 2015.
Beaman will have the power to review cases upon request or on her own initiative, the government indicated in an order-in-council Friday. She is expected to submit her report, which will be made public, to the attorney general within 24 months. The announcement follows a damning independent review released in December by retired Court of Appeal justice Susan Lang that found the drug and alcohol hair-testing process at the Motherisk lab was “inadequate and unreliable” and called for a second review of proceedings that had relied on the test results over the past decade. Hair samples from more than 16,000 individuals were tested at the request of child protection agencies between 2005 and 2015, Lang found.
The Lang review was sparked by a Star investigation that found that before 2010, Motherisk was testing hair using a methodology described by experts as falling short of the “goldstandard test.”
The province said Friday that Bea- man and her team will be tasked with establishing a “review and resource centre” in line with one of Lang’s main recommendations.
The centre will offer “appropriate support and assistance to persons affected by the Motherisk test results, including information, counseling assistance, legal advice and alternative dispute resolution,” according to the order-in-council.
“It’s a formidable task that Justice Beaman has in front of her,” said Irwin Elman, the provincial advocate for children and youth.
“I’m pleased to have a meeting with her in the next few weeks where I can press my concerns about how difficult the crucial work of the commission will be for the thousands of children and youth who have been affected.”
Beaman is asked to offer “early advice or guidance” on “high priority cases,” including those identified by children’s aid societies. Christine Burke, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur, said those cases are open files that are approaching an adoption placement or finalization.
The retired judge is also tasked with giving “particular consideration” when it comes to reaching out to indigenous and racialized communities “to allow for meaning- ful participation.”
Groups that made submissions to Lang’s review said they were generally satisfied with the mandate for the Beaman commission.
“Overall I am very pleased because the mandate does follow the recommendations of the Lang report,” said Katharina Janczaruk, chair of the Family Lawyers Association.
Jonathan Rudin, program director at Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, said it will be a challenge to reach out to aboriginal communities, especially in remote areas of the province, but called the commission’s mandate a “good start.”
“I do think it’s very positive that some of these cases (Beaman) can investigate on her own initiative,” he said. Sick Kids CEO Michael Apkon apologized in an October interview with the Star for practices in the Motherisk lab.
When asked Friday if Sick Kids will turn over all of its files to the commission related to Motherisk hair tests in child protection proceedings, spokeswoman Matet Nebres said: “SickKids will fully co-operate with and provide assistance to the commissioner and her staff. We will continue to share all relevant information we have in our possession to assist.”