REGINA - Social Services Minister Gene Makowsky was on the hot seat Thursday at the legislature over the death of a 14-year-old in his ministry's care.
At the legislature Thursday was Angela Severight, a residential school survivor from the George Gordon First Nation, whose daughter Stellanya Severight died on May 29, 2022 of an overdose in Regina.
Fighting back tears during Question Period, Opposition Social Services Critic Meara Conway explained what had happened as recorded in Hansard.
Ms. Conway: — “… When Angela went to the ministry, asking the government for help, she was told the only way the Ministry could help would be to take Stellayna into care. Feeling she had no other choice, Angela agreed to put her daughter in the ministry’s care.
“But she didn’t get care from this government, Mr. Speaker. At age 14 Stellayna died by drug overdose. What does the minister have to say to Angela about the ministry’s failure to keep Stellayna safe?…”
Hon. Mr. Makowsky: — “Well thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a very serious matter and we of course, with the ministry and myself, take this very seriously and of course offer condolences to any in Saskatchewan who lose a child, Mr. Speaker.
“Unfortunately the current legislation prohibits me from speaking directly about situations of this matter. But, Mr. Speaker, in terms of child and family, we’ve been able to increase the budget every year to help with these cases, including this budget, more caseworkers, Mr. Speaker. And that is some of the things we’re being able to do…”
Ms. Conway: — “Mr. Speaker, Angela is joined today by Bonnie Ford, who worked at the street workers’ advocacy project for a total of 25 years. On April 28th of last year, Bonnie went looking for Stellayna and found her in a trap house in serious distress.
“Bonnie immediately went to Stellayna’s worker at the Ministry of Social Services to tell them Stellayna was in danger. No one went looking for Stellayna for 29 days. A month later, on May 29th, Stellayna died by overdose in the very house where Bonnie had initially found her and asked the ministry to go get her.
“The Children’s Advocate has reviewed what happened in this failure, as the minister said. Will the minister meet with Angela to discuss the advocate’s recommendations? And what does he have to say about the ministry’s total failure to keep Stellayna safe?…”
Hon. Mr. Makowsky: — “Again, Mr. Speaker, I can’t speak to specifics about cases. I know within our legislation it prohibits me from doing that.
"However I know there is a process that the ministry takes to ensure that there is a thorough investigation and to determine what happened in different cases. That information is shared with the advocate as well as the coroner’s service, and then some information is in fact shared with the family if requested. That is different from several other provinces, is my understanding, who share absolutely nothing with family members…”
Ms. Conway: — “Mr. Speaker, the minister didn’t respond to my question about whether he’d meet with Angela. I’d like him to respond to that question.
“Mr. Speaker, Bonnie called what happened to Stellayna the largest social services failure she’s ever seen, and she’s seen a lot, Mr. Speaker. And we know there are serious systemic issues with our broken child welfare system. Stellayna’s death wasn’t a one-off. It was a systemic failure by this 16-year-old government… What will the minister do to fix this broken system?”
Hon. Mr. Makowsky: — “Mr. Speaker, I ran out of time in the last question. I’d be happy to meet with anyone, and anyone with this specific case of course but anyone who has suggestions on how we can work on this.”
In speaking to reporters afterwards, Angela made it known she was not satisfied by what she called “rehearsed” responses from Makowsky in the Assembly.
“I tried my best and this is all I have left of my daughter,” she said, holding a photo of Stellanya.
Angela also said to the media scrum in the rotunda that walking into the Legislature “reminds me of where I grew up in the residential school system, where you’re told when to eat, when to get up, how to talk, say the Lord’s Prayer. That’s engrained in me from residential. But I fought, and I’m here today, and I’m not going to let this go until there’s some kind of accountability and change, and I need to see it happen.”
Angela also was critical that no effort was made for nearly a month to find her daughter.
There was “no in-depth pounding the pavement to look for my daughter. I’ll tell you when I gave her up that day in that room, it was crushing because as a mother, you don’t want to give your kid up. And for me to give her to that system that has so many flaws and just no accountability, it’s the worst feeling ever.”
A major issue that erupted Thursday was the lack of transparency over investigations on the file.
Conway said there was “zero transparency. The Ministry of Social Services does internal investigations. They are not public facing. They do not release information. Obviously, the Children’s Advocate does parallel investigations and sometimes those investigations are public and they do what they can to share with the family, and that is why one of Andrea’s asks is to sit down with the Ministry and talk to the Ministry about the outcome of the Ministry’s investigation and the recommendations that are flowing from that.”
Conway had also noted that Angela had signed “several consent forms” giving the government permission to release information on the case. As for Makowsky’s claims of privacy as why he couldn’t talk further about it, Conway accused the government of “hid(ing) behind privacy in order to avoid accountability.”
When Makowsky met reporters, he offered “condolences to the family and friends and certainly everyone in Saskatchewan want all our children to have good lives. Every time somebody passes too soon it’s a tragedy."
But Makowsky again said he was limited by what he could say due to legislation. Reporters didn’t hide their frustrations with the minister as they repeatedly peppered him with questions and demanded to know why more details on the case weren’t being provided -- even with the mother wanting more information made public.
Makowsky responded he had been advised based on the legislation “it could be other people involved in the situation, whether a group home or group worker. I don’t want to speculate, it could be anyone involved.”
