BILL 7 – 2007
CHILD AND YOUTH STATUTES (REPRESENTATION IMPROVEMENT) AMENDMENT ACT, 2007

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

 
Part 1 -- Child, Family and Community Service Act Amendments

1 Section 79 of the Child, Family and Community Service Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 46, is amended by adding the following paragraphs:

(g.1) necessary to conduct a review under section 93.2,

(g.2) made in order to release a report, or part of a report, finalized under section 93.2 (2) (b), in accordance with a regulation made under section 103 (2) (r.1) (ii), .

2 Section 91 (1) (a) is repealed and the following substituted:

(a) any or all of the provisions of this Act, or .

3 Section 93 (3) and (4) is repealed.

4 The following sections are added:

Administrative reviews

93.1 A director must, in accordance with the regulations,

(a) establish an administrative procedure for reviewing the exercise of a director's powers, duties and functions under this Act, and

(b) ensure that information about the administrative review procedure is available to any person on request.

Reviews relating to services

93.2 (1) Subject to the regulations and in accordance with subsection (3), a director may conduct a review on any matter relating to the provision of a service under this Act for any of the following purposes:

(a) to monitor a director's performance in the provision of the service;

(b) to monitor the performance of any person or agency in the provision of the service;

(c) to improve the provision of the service;

(d) for public accountability.

(2) If a director conducts a review under subsection (1),

(a) the director must prepare a written report of the review,

(b) a director must finalize the report prepared under paragraph (a) of this subsection, and

(c) the review is not complete until the report is finalized under paragraph (b).

(3) Respecting reviews under subsection (1), a director may establish

(a) different types of reviews for different types of matters, and

(b) different processes, time limits and types of reports for different types of reviews.

5 Section 101.1 is amended

(a) in subsections (1) (a) and (2) (a) by striking out "the procedure established under section 93 (3)," and substituting "the administrative procedure established under section 93.1,", and

(b) in subsections (1) (b) and (2) (b) by striking out "section 93 (3) or (4)" and substituting "section 93.1 or 93.2".

6 Section 103 (2) is amended

(a) in paragraph (r) by striking out "section 93 (3)" and substituting "section 93.1", and

(b) by repealing paragraph (r.1) and substituting the following:

(r.1) respecting reviews conducted, and reports prepared and finalized, under section 93.2, including, without limiting this,

(i) specifying the criteria a director must apply in exercising his or her discretion to conduct a review, and

(ii) specifying the criteria, rules or requirements that must be applied or followed by a director for the purposes of releasing a finalized report or part of a finalized report under section 79 (g.2); .

 
Part 2 -- Representative for Children and Youth Act Amendments

7 Section 1 of the Representative for Children and Youth Act, S.B.C. 2006, c. 29, is amended

(a) in the definition of "designated services" by striking out "provided or funded by the government for children and their families:" and substituting "for children and their families provided under an enactment or provided or funded by the government:",

(b) in paragraph (b) of the definition of "designated services" by adding "child" before "care services",

(c) in the definition of "director" by striking out "the Adoption Act or",

(d) in the definition of "personal information" by adding ", but includes contact information as defined in that Act" after "the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act", and

(e) in the definition of "reviewable services" by adding the following paragraph:

(b.1) addiction services for children; .

8 The heading to Part 3 is repealed and the following substituted:

Part 3 -- Representative's Functions and General Powers .

9 Section 6 is repealed and the following substituted:

Functions of representative

6 The representative is responsible for performing the following functions in accordance with this Act:

(a) support, assist, inform and advise children and their families respecting designated services, which activities include, without limitation,

(i) providing information and advice to children and their families about how to effectively access designated services and how to become effective self-advocates with respect to those services,

(ii) advocating on behalf of a child receiving or eligible to receive a designated service, and

(iii) supporting, promoting in communities and commenting publicly on advocacy services for children and their families with respect to designated services;

(b) monitor, review, audit and conduct research on the provision of a designated service by a public body or director for the purpose of making recommendations to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of that service, and comment publicly on any of these functions;

(c) review, investigate and report on the critical injuries and deaths of children as set out in Part 4;

(d) perform any other prescribed functions.

10 Section 10 is repealed and the following substituted:

Right to information

10 (1) In this section, "officer of the Legislature" has the same meaning as in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, but does not include the representative.

(2) The representative has the right to any information that

(a) is in the custody or control of

(i) a public body other than an officer of the Legislature, or

(ii) a director, and

(b) is necessary to enable the representative to exercise his or her powers or perform his or her functions or duties under this Act.

(3) The public body or director must disclose to the representative the information to which the representative is entitled under subsection (2).

(4) This section applies despite

(a) any claim of confidentiality or privilege, other than a claim based on solicitor-client privilege, and

(b) any other enactment, other than a restriction in section 51 of the Evidence Act.

11 Section 11 is amended

(a) in subsections (1) and (2) by striking out "ministry or other" wherever it appears,

(b) in subsection (1) by striking out "for review." and substituting "for a review under subsection (3).", and

(c) in subsection (3) by striking out "trends to inform improvements to reviewable services or broader public" and substituting "trends to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of a reviewable service or to inform improvements to broader public".

12 Section 12 is amended

(a) by repealing subsection (1) (a) and substituting the following:

(a) a reviewable service, or the policies or practices of a public body or director, may have contributed to the critical injury or death, and , and

(b) by adding the following subsection:

(4) If the representative decides to investigate the critical injury or death of a child under this section, the representative must notify

(a) the public body, or the director, responsible for the provision of the reviewable service, or for the policies or practices, that may have contributed to the critical injury or death, and

(b) any other person the representative considers appropriate to notify in the circumstances.

13 Section 13 is amended

(a) in paragraph (a) by striking out "death, and" and substituting "death of the child,", and

(b) by repealing paragraph (b) and substituting the following:

if a coroner investigates or conducts an inquiry into the death of the child, until the earliest of

(i) the date on which a signed statement is sent to the chief coroner in accordance with section 17 (1) (a) of the Coroners Act respecting the investigation,

(ii) the date on which a report is forwarded to the chief coroner in accordance with section 20 (4) (b) of the Coroners Act respecting the inquiry,

(iii) the date on which the first person is summoned under section 29 (2) of the Coroners Act to serve as a juror on an inquest respecting the death of the child, and

(iv) one year after the death of the child, and

(c) if a public body, or a director, responsible for the provision of a reviewable service has, at the time of the critical injury or death of the child, written procedures in place for investigating critical injuries or deaths and the public body or director investigates the critical injury or death of the child, until the earlier of

(i) the completion of the investigation, and

(ii) one year after the critical injury or death of the child.

14 The following section is added:

Consultation, disclosure and recommendations

15.1 (1) At any time during or after an investigation under section 12, the representative may consult with a public body, director or person the representative considers appropriate in relation to the critical injury or death of the child.

(2) If during an investigation under section 12 the representative receives a request for consultation from a public body or director, the representative must consult with the public body or director in relation to the critical injury or death of the child.

(3) If consulting with a public body, director or person under this section, the representative may

(a) disclose to the public body, director or person the personal information the representative considers necessary and appropriate, and

(b) make recommendations to the public body or director, or to another public body or director, to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of a reviewable service.

15 Section 16 is amended

(a) by repealing subsection (2) (b) and substituting the following:

(b) the public body, or the director, responsible for the provision of a reviewable service that is a subject of the report; ,

(b) in subsection (2) (c) by striking out "any other ministry, public body or person" and substituting "any other public body, director or person", and

(c) by repealing subsections (4) to (8) and substituting the following:

(4) A report made under subsection (3) must contain the representative's reasons for undertaking the investigation and may contain the following:

(a) recommendations for

(i) the public body, or the director, responsible for the provision of a reviewable service that is a subject of the report, or

(ii) any other public body, director or person that the representative considers appropriate;

(b) personal information, if, in the opinion of the representative,

(i) the disclosure is necessary to support the findings and recommendations contained in the report, and

(ii) the public interest in the disclosure outweighs the privacy interests of the individual whose personal information is disclosed in the report;

(c) any other matters the representative considers relevant.

(5) A report made under subsection (3) may be provided to any person that the representative considers appropriate and must be provided to

(a) the standing committee,

(b) the public body, or the director, responsible for the provision of a reviewable service that is a subject of the report, and

(c) the public body, or the director, that is a subject of recommendations in the report, if not already provided the report under paragraph (b).

16 Sections 17 (1) and 18 (2) are amended by striking out "2007/2008" and substituting "2008/2009".

17 Section 19 (1) is amended

(a) by striking out "2008" and substituting "2009", and

(b) by repealing paragraph (a) and substituting the following:

(a) the representative's work with aboriginal children and their families,

(a.1) the other work of the representative, and .

18 Section 20 (2) (a) and (b) is repealed and the following substituted:

(a) recommendations for

(i) the public body, or the director, responsible for the provision of a designated service, or

(ii) any other public body or director the representative considers appropriate;

(b) a report on the level of compliance with previous recommendations made by the representative under this Act to

(i) the public body, or the director, responsible for the provision of a designated service, or

(ii) any other public body or director;

(b.1) a report on the provision of a designated service for children in different geographic, racial, cultural or religious communities of British Columbia; .

19 Section 22 is repealed and the following substituted:

Agreements

22 The representative may enter into an agreement for the purpose of exercising the powers and performing the functions and duties under this Act.

20 Section 23 (4) is amended by striking out "must, subject to this Act, maintain confidentiality" and substituting "must, except as specifically authorized under this Act, maintain confidentiality".

21 Section 24 is repealed and the following substituted:

Privileges respecting communications and information

24 A person has the same privileges in relation to giving information, answering questions or producing documents or things to the representative, or to a person appointed, employed or retained under section 7 (1) or (4), relating to a review or an investigation under Part 4 as the person would have with respect to a proceeding in a court.

22 Section 29 (2) (f) is repealed.

23 Section 30 is amended

(a) by striking out "whether the role and functions" and substituting "whether the functions", and

(b) by striking out "coming into force of this Act," and substituting "coming into force of section 6,".

24 The following Part is added:

Part 6 -- Transitional Provisions

Transfer of records

30.1 (1) On the repeal of the Office for Children and Youth Act, all records obtained under that Act must be transferred to the representative, including, but not limited to, all records originally produced under the Child, Youth and Family Advocacy Act or the Children's Commission Act.

(2) On the effective date of a transfer under subsection (1),

(a) the records cease to be the records of the transferor and become the records of the transferee, and

(b) the confidentiality provisions of this Act apply to the transferred records.

 
Part 3 -- Consequential Amendments

Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act

25 Schedule 2 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 165, is amended by adding the following:

 
Public Service Labour Relations Act

26 Section 1 (1) of the Public Service Labour Relations Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 388, is amended in the definition of "employee" by adding the following:

(ff) a member of the staff of the Representative for Children and Youth; .

Commencement

27 The provisions of this Act referred to in column 1 of the following table come into force as set out in column 2 of the table: