Ottawa CAS - Transparency in Governance Position Paper

Today, Tuesday, October 15, 2008, The Foster Care Council of Canada's John Dunn attended the Ottawa CAS monthly Board meeting and learned from their agenda and subsequent discussion that they are now drafting a Position Paper on Transparency in CAS Governance.

Although the Board did not mention why they drafted the Position Paper it appears to have been done as a result of the Foster Care Council of Canada's advocacy efforts and the Private Member's Motion #41 which the Council advocated for through Andrea Horwath's (MPP) office at the Ontario Legislature to open and advertise CAS meetings/minutes and By-Laws had something if not everything to do with this sudden change in the Society.

The Ottawa CAS Board did not distribute publicly the draft position statement mentioned above, however they talked about it briefly and it appears that information about the Society's By-Laws, Meetings, Meeting Minutes and such are going to be more open to the public in some way and a publicly available leaflet will be made available regarding such matters. The Executive Director mentioned the need to "sanitize" the information before public consumption.

This is just the first step in the right direction toward improved quality of service and accountability in child-welfare which demonstrates that persistence, and patience alway pay off.


UPDATE:

On November 05, 2008, John Dunn sent the following letter to the Executive Director of the Ottawa CAS in relation to this matter.

Correspondence below:

Barbara MacKinnon
Executive Director
The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa
1602 Telesat Court
Ottawa, Ontario
K2E 6J2

Date: Nov 05, 2008
RE: Position Paper on Transparency in CAS Governance

Barbara MacKinnon,

During the October 2008 meeting of the Society's Board of Directors discussion was held regarding a Draft being made of a Position Paper on Transparency in CAS Governance which from what I was able to understand pertains to the public having access to Society Board and or Committee minutes, Agenda's, By-Laws and other items of importance to the Society's local constituents.

I would like to ask if you could please answer the following questions for me.

1. What can you say generally about the status of the Draft Position Paper on CAS Governance and what is it's official title?

2. When do you expect the Draft to be complete and reviewed by the Board for approval?

3. If it is approved by the Board will it be available for review by the public and if not, why not?



Sincerely
John Dunn
Executive Director
The Foster Care Council of Canada
http://www.afterfostercare.ca


Barbara MacKinnon's response:

Re: [QUARANTINE] Position Paper on Transparency in CAS Governance‏
From: barbara.mackinnon@casott.on.ca
Sent: November 10, 2008 4:51:08 PM
To: John Dunn (afterfostercare@hotmail.com)
Cc: mparisien@casott.on.ca

Hello John,

Thank you for your interest in our work. We are in the process of developing a communication leaflet that reflects the intent of the paper.

It should be ready in the near future and I would be happy to provide the leaflet to you.

Rick is happy to have you present in December to the Board but was not sure we will have quorum as December is generally a very busy month for members.

You may be more interested in the New Year--January or February.

Let me know.

Barbara MacKinnon
Executive Director
Children's Aid Society of Ottawa
1602 Telesat Court,
Ottawa K1B 1B1
747-7800 ext 2600