The backlash has been significant to a report compiled by the Yukon Child and Youth Advocate Office (CYAO) regarding how the government handled incidents that occurred at Hidden Valley Elementary School (HVES).

The report by Advocate Annette King revolves around incidents involving William Auclair-Bellemare, a former educational assistant at HVES.

He pleaded guilty to sexual interference in 2020 involving a child at the school. The government failed to inform parents in the school community about the charge, his eventual conviction nor his jail sentence.

Auclair-Bellemare, 35, faces several other charges related to incidents at the school that took place starting in 2015. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Education Minister Jeanie McLean tabled the report in the legislature Wednesday.

It says, “Investigations, communications and supports to families and the public were poorly managed and highly inadequate, and ultimately impacted access to therapeutic supports for students and their families.”

It also says, “This review finds that children were not the priority in YG’s response to incidents of sexualized abuse towards students by an EA.

“Communications and decisions made in the aftermath of these incidents demonstrate an alarming lack of attention to upholding children’s rights on the part of the government, despite their statutory obligation to do so.

“For many community members, adequate steps have not been taken to address the impacts of these acts against vulnerable young people.” (See more from the report on p. 5.)

During question period Thursday, McLean was chastised repeatedly by opposition MLAs.

Despite the onslaught, she refused to budge from her position that the government was doing everything in its power to deal with the situation.

Premier Sandy Silver finally came to McLean’s defence at the end of question period.

“Mr. Speaker, I think that my minister has done an exceptional job today explaining actions taken to date and commitments to responding to the Child and Youth Advocate.”

Silver then questioned why the former Yukon Party government took no action following an incident in the 2015-2016 school year involving Auclair-Bellemare.

“Mr. Speaker, talking about being accountable, the Yukon Party’s inactions in 2016 led to further harm of children. Will the Yukon Party apologize for that?”

Opposition Leader Currie Dixon said later, “This report is as scathing and devastating for the government is as I have ever seen in my time following Yukon politics from an independent officer in the legislature. I find it shocking the way that the minister has responded to this.”

Yukoners are seeing a report “confirming that all of that response has been entirely inadequate,” Dixon added.

“And quite frankly, for the minister to cling to her response that ‘no, really, everything is OK,’ and then what they’re doing is fine, is startling and shows perhaps that she should, you know, more thoroughly read this report.”

He was asked about the Liberals’ allegation that the former Yukon Party government took no action in relation to the incident at HVES in 2015-2016.

“I would encourage anybody to read the report, and the report shows that there there was an allegation in 2015-16 school year that went undocumented by the department,” he responded.

“I’ve said – and it was confirmed with former education ministers who were in power at the time and are no longer in politics – that no one had any knowledge of this at all, at the political level.”

Tracy-Anne McPhee was the Education minister at the time of Auclair-Bellemare’s initial charge and jail sentence.

Dixon was asked how he now feels about his earlier attempt to get McPhee to resign.

“We’ve passed a motion in the legislature (in late 2021) calling on the previous minister to resign that’s gone unheeded by the government.”

He added, “What the report makes very clear is that Yukoners are looking for personal responsibility from those in charge of the situation. That’s a direct quote from the report. And we haven’t seen that yet.”

Dixon was also asked how the government can begin to rebuild trust with the school community.

“I think they need to acknowledge that their response over the last couple of years has been wholly inadequate,” he said.

“I think that they could start by providing some of the supports that are recommended by the child and youth advocate. I think that they could start by acknowledging and apologizing for the harm that’s been caused by this inadequate response.”

Dixon went on to say, “The Child Youth Advocate makes clear that the departmental response was far more concerned with the legalities of the situation and the HR implications for the department than it was with the well-being of the students and families.

“And that’s another devastating quote from this report. I mean, this report is filled with jaw-dropping statements about the inadequacy of the response of government over the past few years.”

Dixon was asked if he has any faith in the government to make the changes required to ensure this situation doesn’t recur.

“I have absolutely zero faith in this government,” he said.

Reporters asked NDP Leader Kate White what kind of response to the CYAO she was looking for from the government.

“Instead of coming back and saying, you know, here’s the legion of things we’re doing that have been found to be inadequate, apologizing is probably a really good spot to start again. I’m sorry for the harm that was done.

“I accept responsibility for what happened. I commit to doing a better job in the future. We’re working on it. We’re putting things in place. That won’t happen again. That would have been a good answer,” White said.

One recommendation in the report stands out for White.

“I think it was really great, the recommendations that there should be sex ed classes for all students … kids need to have a vocabulary, they need to understand what’s good and what’s not good, what’s OK and what’s not.

“The part that I’m most focused on today, which I think is really critical is that there should be clinical counsellors in every school, you know, and in some cases, there should be social workers in every school,” she added.

White referred to an opportunity the Liberal government had to effect change when it came into power in late 2016.

“The minister referenced a decision in 2015 by the Yukon Party government about how to allocate educational assistance. But her government came to power in 2016. So shouldn’t you have changed it if it didn’t work? You’ve had a number of years you should change it.”

White added, “We’ve heard that the government is committed to meeting that deadline.

“So November 22, which is good and which is important, but if the government continues to say the things that they have, which is weird, we’re doing it, we’ve done it, we know what we’re doing. We’ve consulted with experts, we have reports. That’s not enough.”

McLean also spoke to reporters Thursday afternoon. It was pointed out that during an interview with the Star in 2021, she had said King had no legal right to hold an inquiry into the scandal.

McLean responded, “Our department has worked closely with our Child and Youth Advocate over the last year or two and we’ve fully co-operated with the Child and Youth Advocate to ensure that she had all of the same information that was provided to and within our independent review.”

McLean brought up the Safer Schools action plan that resulted after the independent review.

“We have 23 actions within that plan, and 13 of them are complete. And we’re on target to have the rest of them completed by spring of 2023.”

McLean was asked if accountability is necessary to rebuild trust with parents and the public.

“I’ve worked really closely with families with those directly impacted and I know that trust has definitely been impacted through this and we’ve worked really hard over the last year and a bit to work with the community, work with those impacted to ensure that their needs are being met and that they’re being heard,” the minister said.

McLean was again asked about the lack of communication between herself and McPhee about the Hidden Valley school affair.

“I know that some folks have taken issue there and I think that I continue to stand by my cabinet colleagues and I’m committed to this team in terms of our ability and what we’ve been able to accomplish,” she said.

“I recognize that some folks may have different opinions about that, and I certainly have heard directly from families and I continue to hear them and acknowledge that what their feelings are, around how things were dealt with, and that folks were not communicated with in a timely manner or at all until things evolved to a different time,”  McLean said.

“And I acknowledge that and I think those are all findings within our reports, and we’re responding to them. The Safer Schools action plan directly responds to that, and so does the – I think that some of the new findings or recommendations that we have now with the Child and Youth Advocate report will help guide us further on this journey.”

McLean was asked one more time about accountability.

She responded: “I’ve been very committed to responding to what has happened here and ensuring that our students and staff in our schools are supported.”