Deaths of young people in Ontario institutions
Source: June 20, 2003 06:14 AM The Toronto Star
Lived tragic lives, died tragic deaths
Five young people victims of system
They could have been saved: Report
JESSICA LEEDER
STAFF REPORTER
One teen died after a worker charged with her care sat on her back. Another
lost his life due to a lack of proper medical treatment. And a third hanged
herself while in a detention centre — one of several cries for help during her
young life.
These troubled, sick children are among the six young people who died in
Ontario-run institutions since 1996. A report released this week by Defence
for Children International charges they would still be alive had the province
not severely restricted the powers of the Office of Child and Family Service
Advocacy.
Yesterday in the Legislature, Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty attacked the
government's record, asking, "Why have you failed to protect children in care
in the province of Ontario?" Brenda Elliott, the minister of community, family
and children's services, replied that the Conservatives have enhanced child
protection and responded to coroners' inquests calling for more powers for
those overseeing children in care.
Inquests into five of the six deaths issued a total of 298 recommendations.
The following are snapshots of those five children whose lives and deaths
became part of the public record.
In 1996, James Lonnee became the first young offender to die in an Ontario
jail.
According to a coroner's report, Lonnee "got into trouble with the law at an
early age" and spent much of his youth in secure-custody facilities. He moved
between 13 different residential and detention centres between 1995 and 1996
alone.
In early September, 1996, Lonnee, described as highly impulsive, restless and
immature for his age, was transferred from the Brookside Youth Centre in
Cobourg to the Wellington Detention Centre in Guelph.
While waiting to appear in court, the 16-year-old was placed in a cell, where
he was severely beaten by his cellmate.
A nurse discovered Lonnee after she peered through the cell's food slot and
saw him lying on the floor, bleeding from the top of his nose and his mouth.
He was taken to hospital in Guelph and later transferred to Hamilton General
Hospital, where he succumbed to a head injury on Sept. 7.
Among 120 recommendations, a coroner's jury called for the abolition of
segregation cells for young offenders.
An inquest found that Stephanie Jobin died from severe brain damage shortly
after a staff worker at a Brampton group home sat on her back with a beanbag
chair for 20 minutes.
The 13-year-old autistic girl stopped breathing while two female workers were
restraining her on June 17, 1998. The second employee held the teen's legs
while helping force her to lie face down on the living room floor of Digs for
Kids on Vodden St.
Three days later, Stephanie was pronounced dead.
In the months leading up to her death, workers were increasingly forced to
restrain Stephanie for biting, head butting and pulling out the hair of her
caregivers. She was also pulling out her own hair and slamming her own head
against the wall.
The jury at an inquest into her death last December heard Stephanie was placed
in the group home and supervised by $10-an-hour caregivers when she should
have been at a specialized-care facility with access to health-care
professionals. Only one such facility exists in Ontario, the jury was told,
and it had no room for Stephanie, a ward of the Peel Children's Aid Society.
Less than one year after Stephanie's death, 13-year-old William Edgar, a ward
of the Toronto Children's Aid Society, died after being restrained by a staff
member at a group home east of Peterborough in a similar incident.
A child prone to "uncontrollable acts of rage," his outbursts of impulsive,
aggressive and destructive behaviour escalated when he learned of his birth
father's sudden death in 1996.
After bouncing in and out of foster homes and care facilities in the Toronto
area, William was placed at the Keene Residence of the Cavan Youth Services
outside of Peterborough in 1997. There, he was frequently restrained by staff
members working to calm his destructive behaviour.
On March 29, 1999, when he began to swear and stomp his feet, he was
restrained by a 250-pound worker, who held him face down on the floor,
according to an inquest into his death.
William died later that night.
The inquest jury called for the province to outlaw the face-down restraint
method.
On the day Joshua Durnford, 18, died, the nurse assigned to check his
condition at Maplehurst Detention Centre in Milton didn't even open his cell.
An inquest into the Feb. 15, 2000, death of the teen, who had been under the
care of the children's aid society since the age of 10, revealed his life
could have been saved had he been given proper medical treatment.
A diagnosed "homosexual pedophiliac," Durnford lived in 16 different
residential and custodial facilities while growing up. Following several
assaults in various group homes, he was sent to Maplehurst, where his
condition slowly deteriorated.
In the four days leading up to his death, Durnford complained to staff members
of headaches and had difficulty speaking. He had problems dressing himself,
was sweating profusely and was found on Feb. 14 lying face down on his
mattress, shaking uncontrollably. Staff noted him to be "weak and sweaty" with
failing motor skills and slurred speech.
The inquest jury heard that on the morning of his death, a nurse doing
medication rounds was asked to see the teen, who could no longer stand. The
nurse on duty looked through the door hatch but did not enter the cell.
At 10 a.m., Durnford was transferred to Milton Hospital after Maplehurst staff
found him unresponsive, lying in a pool of urine on his mattress. He was
pronounced dead at 12:02 p.m.
Durnford, who had a history of "extreme behaviour and interpersonal
disturbances," according to a coroner's report, died of neuroleptic malignant
syndrome, a side effect of two neuroleptic medications used to treat psychotic
illnesses. Staff at Maplehurst failed to review the side effects of the
medications or take his temperature, the inquest found.
A teenaged girl who battled depression and bounced from foster home to youth
detention centre had her first encounter with the Toronto Children's Aid
Society after a suicide attempt in February, 2001.
Suffering from issues of abandonment and isolation, the girl was placed in a
Brampton foster home after spending two weeks in the adolescent psychiatric
unit at the Hospital for Sick Children.
Following an assault charge for an incident with another child at the foster
home, her behaviour declined steadily. She began skipping school and
eventually ran away from her foster home. In late June, 2001, she was placed
at MacMillan Youth Centre, a detention facility in Milton — the eventual site
of her death.
The teen, who had made two previous attempts on her life, was sent to her room
for misbehaviour three days after arriving at MacMillan. She constructed a
noose from curtains hanging on her bedroom window and hanged herself, an
inquest into her death determined. She was pronounced brain-dead on July 3.
She was only 14.
Jurors at the inquest were told no one at MacMillan was informed that the girl
was a suicide risk.
At the end of the five-week hearing, jurors made 32 recommendations, including
better training for those who work with children.
With files from Caroline Mallan
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