What we have here is a failure to communicate.

That’s at the crux of a report on the Hidden Valley Elementary School (HVES) sexual abuse scandal written by Vancouver lawyer Amanda Rogers which was released Monday evening by the Yukon government.

The report was the subject of a news conference Tuesday morning hosted by Rogers and Premier Sandy Silver.

It’s the first of several reports on the scandal to be made public in a final version. Last month, the RCMP provided a glimpse of its own review, but it wasn’t finalized.

Rogers provided a disturbing snapshot of the situation with the school.

In events beginning in 2019, an educational assistant was charged with and later convicted of sexual interference – without the families of students ever being notified before it hit the news in mid-summer 2021.

“The need for this review was obvious,” Rogers wrote. “At all levels of government, everyone I spoke with acknowledged and regretted the fact that this matter was not handled better.

“In speaking with government employees and officials during this review, I heard a collective desire to learn from this experience.

“Everyone I spoke with recognizes the need to ensure proper policies, training, and procedures exist to ensure that in the unfortunate event something like this is discovered in future.”

William Auclair-Bellemare, 34, is now facing at least seven more charges after two other students and their families came forward, Rogers noted.

“At the heart of this independent review, is the fact that the Department of Education did not communicate with families about Auclair-Bellemare having been removed from HVES, investigated, charged and subsequently convicted for sexually abusing a student at HVES.

“As described in the next section of this report, a review of internal emails in government shows a communication to families was contemplated but not sent at that time.

“On July 14, 2021, a family member on behalf of the victim filed a civil suit against Auclair-Bellemare and the YDE (Yukon Department of Education) which was subsequently reported by the CBC on July 16, 2021. This was how parents learned of his conviction,” says the report.

“As noted at the outset and discussed in more detail in the Factual Findings below, parents were universally outraged to learn abuse had taken place at HVES about which they knew nothing.

“Many wrote to government upon learning of the Auclair-Bellemare matter demanding to know why they had not been informed and advocating for supports to be provided to the HVES community,” the lawyer observed.

Rogers further wrote, “It is understandable the HVES school community is upset given the inadequacy of the government’s response in this case.

“In short, government ought to have more proactively and thoughtfully responded to the WAB (Auclair-Bellemare) matter. In my view, a communication ought to have been sent to parents by the YDE earlier than it was.”

Rogers told the news conference the government’s response to the incident was simply insufficient.

“I think everybody knows something there went wrong and it was publicly acknowledged by government even before I started this review,” she said. “I find that the response of government was inadequate.”

Rogers said the government properly addressed the employee-employer relations aspect of the matter by initially suspending the employee – but that its communication response was a failure.

“What wasn’t handled well, and what has outraged parents and the public more generally, is the government’s failure to communicate about the allegations and the fact (the person) had been removed from the school,” she said.

“There was, I believe, a misinterpretation or oversimplification or misunderstanding about what could be conveyed and to whom and when.”

She said the government missed its obligation to inform parents and the public about the issue.

“The true impact of the government’s failure to communicate with parents earlier was a lost opportunity to provide them with necessary resources to assist them in talking with their children and navigating the fear and anxiety that comes from learning your child may have been sexually abused, or worse, that they had,” the report says.

The report concludes the government’s various departments, particularly the Department of Education, had no clue about how to handle such a situation because there was no policy to guide them.

Each department involved, but particularly Education, Rogers said, operated as if it were its own silo, detached from each other and looking after their own interests with no co-ordination whatsoever.

“Indeed, I found Education particularly ‘siloed’ within government, given that much of its leadership comes from an education background rather than a governmental one.

“While it makes sense for leadership in YDE with expertise in education, it makes the need for proper onboarding and training all the more important,” Rogers wrote.

“This is especially so given the rate of employee turnover and staff movement in Yukon.

“There were systemic causes including a lack of co-ordination and consultation with departmental leadership, and absence of policies and training to guide those responsible on how to appropriately address the issue or who needed to be involved in decision-making about the response.

“Adding to these systemic issues – which are discussed more below – the COVID-19 pandemic forced education in Yukon and across Canada online in March 2020, burdening an already stretched YDE to design and implement an entirely new system of learning across the territory during a global health emergency.

“While none of these explanations justify the government’s inaction, they do assist in understanding why things went so wrong in respect to its handling of the matter and thus inform the recommendations for how to ensure responses to such events are more robust and timelier in future.

“It is important to note that there was no impediment to the YDE putting out a communication to the school community when initially contemplated advising that:

• a serious allegation had been made against a staff member of the school;

• the RCMP is investigating;

• the staff member has been removed from school and placed on an unpaid suspension pending the outcome of that investigation;

• parents may be contacted by the RCMP as part of that investigation.”

Rogers said she wasn’t surprised to see how the situation developed in some ways – but she was surprised at the utter lack of policy to guide the bureaucrats.

“Silos in government is not surprising,” she said. “A lot of times the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. It’s not unique to this government.

“What’s surprising is the lack of policies. People need to have clear guidance on what to do in these situations. We need a clear policy on information-sharing. All the communication was reactive,” she added.

“An incident of this magnitude with such far-reaching impacts requires highly complex decision-making across government departments and appropriate oversite from leadership to ensure government’s response is appropriate,” Rogers wrote.

“This review revealed that advice from the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the RCMP was disseminated through YDE’s communications department to the assistant deputy minister, and that the decision not to communicate with parents about the WAB matter was made without sufficient oversight from the deputy minister, minister or cabinet.”

In the report, and at Tuesday’s news conference, Rogers said she couldn’t single out a single person or people to blame for the debacle.

“Believe me, if I could have, I would have,” she said.

“Despite the deputy minister’s responsibility for establishing communications processes and procedures and providing direction on communications, as noted, it does not appear that anyone sought advice from the deputy minister or minister on the appropriate departmental response to the matter.

“This meant that neither the leaders of the YDE or DOJ were provided an opportunity to scrutinize the decision not to send an earlier communication, nor, as noted, were they involved in obtaining legal advice directly so that they could brainstorm in co-ordination with the DOJ and/or external counsel about how best to navigate the competing legal interests in play.”

Rogers did call out Tracy-Anne McPhee, the Education minister from late 2016 until the spring of 2021, for some blame, though. Rogers said unequivocally that McPhee – who did not attend the news conference – knew some of the details of the situation, but perhaps not all.

“Simply put, it seems the significance of this event was not recognized by those tasked with responding. In the absence of a policy and armed with what was viewed as incontrovertible legal advice, decisions were made without the minister, cabinet committee and/or the communications review committee or council being notified or involved.”

The information that was being presented to the upper management of the civil service and to McPhee wasn’t complete, Rogers wrote in the report.

It indicated that Silver and current Education Minister Jeanie McLean did not know about the sexual abuse until after the affair hit the media.

“It should be noted that July 16, 2021 was the first time the premier and minister McLean learned about the WAB matter,” the report said.

“Indeed, earlier briefing notes were not included in the post-election briefing book prepared for minister McLean after the April 2021 election.”

Silver tersely answered a question as to whether that was acceptable or professionally embarrassing for him.

He responded with a short “unacceptable” – and did not elaborate further.

A reporter asked Silver whether there will be any professional consequences for any of the people involved. He gave no indication that is in the works.

Instead, Silver pointed to the systemic weaknesses and “long-standing gaps” in policy.

Silver said the government is still reviewing the report, but added that McLean has accepted all of its recommendations and will move fast and decisively to implement them.

He said top bureaucrat Stephen Mills, the deputy minister of the Executive Council Office, was being assigned to head a commission to look into how to start introducing the recommendations. He will report back to the government by Feb. 18.

Silver also apologized to the Hidden Valley School community and all Yukoners for how his government handled the situation.

“There was an absolute critical breakdown in the system,” the premier noted. “We accept and will implement all of the report’s recommendations. I’m truly sorry that this has happened.”

Here is a summary of the recommendations set out in the report by Rogers:

1. Implement a Policy/Process for Interdepartmental Cooperation for Significant Events and Provide Appropriate Training.

2. Implement a YDE Policy for Addressing School Incidents Including Criminal Allegations Against Employees.

3. Provide Better Training for School Administrators and Better Onboarding of YDE Employees.

4. Ensure computerized databases in all Yukon school are capable of easily identifying families of students both past and present and information about EA assignments.

5. Ensure School Administrators, Teachers and Staff are Provided Training in Respect of Their Duty to Report and Document Suspected Abuse on an Annual Basis.

6. Develop and Implement a Policy in Cooperation with the RCMP Re: Information Sharing and Setting Out the Process for Working Together in the Event a Serious Allegation of Criminal Conduct is Levelled Against an Employee Arising from or with a Sufficient Nexus to their Employment.

7. Fully Implement the Recommendations set out in the 2019 June Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Yukon Legislative Assembly, Especially Those in Respect of Inclusive Education for Students Who Have Special Needs.

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