Note: This article has been updated to clarify Dr. Stainton's role in the independent investigation.
The B.C. government is facing mounting criticism over its handling of a review into the Community Living BC (CLBC) home-sharing program, with opposition MLAs calling the process 鈥渄eeply compromised鈥� and demanding an independent inquiry.
Kristina Loewen, MLA for 麻豆精选 Centre and Opposition Critic for Social Development and Poverty Reduction, raised concerns after it was revealed that Dr. Tim Stainton鈥攚ho is supporting the review being conducted by Tamar Consultancy鈥攈elped create the CLBC and has received research funding from the agency.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 get accountability by asking the architects of a broken system to investigate their own blueprints,鈥� Loewen said in a Conservative Party media release. 鈥淔lorence鈥檚 death demands a real, arm鈥檚-length investigation, one led by independent experts with no ties to CLBC.鈥�
The review follows a coroner鈥檚 inquest into the 2018 death of Florence Girard, a woman with Down syndrome who died of starvation while in government-funded care. Her caregiver was later convicted of failing to provide the necessities of life.
The independent review was ordered by the provincial government on June 2 which is looking into the Home Sharing Program operated by the CLBC.
At the time of Girard鈥檚 death, Shane Simpson鈥攏ow CLBC鈥檚 board chair鈥攚as the NDP minister responsible for the agency. Simpson has defended Stainton's participation despite the controversy.
鈥淭his is a slap in the face to families who have been begging for change since 2018,鈥� said Loewen. 鈥淭hey deserve justice, not recycled insiders and closed-door reviews.鈥�
Reann Gasper, MLA for Abbotsford-Mission and Critic for Child Care, Children and Youth with Support Needs, echoed Loewen鈥檚 concerns.
鈥淭his should be a moment of reckoning鈥攏ot a bureaucratic box-checking exercise,鈥� Gasper said. 鈥淔lorence鈥檚 story is heartbreaking. It should have triggered a serious overhaul, not another vague, taxpayer-funded review that avoids the hard truths.鈥�
The Conservatives want the NDP government to cancel the current contract and initiate an independent inquiry that addresses the 15 recommendations made by the coroner鈥檚 jury.
鈥淓very delay, every deflection, puts more vulnerable people at risk,鈥� added Loewen. 鈥淔lorence鈥檚 life mattered. We must act like it.鈥�
