Child Protection: Advanced Topics Conference 2023

Course Chairs
Katrina Harry — Manager, Parents Legal Centre, Legal Aid BC, Vancouver
Katherine R. LeReverend — Legal Counsel, Legal Services Branch, Ministry of Attorney General, Victoria

About the Course Chairs
Katrina Harry is a lawyer and Manager of the Parents Legal Centre, a program for child protection matters operated by Legal Aid BC.

Called to the bar in 2006, she has practiced mainly in child protection. She has represented parents and extended family members at every child protection stage.

Katrina authors and reviews numerous publications for Legal Aid in the area of children and families, and speaks frequently at the bar exam course, presents at conferences and at various speaking engagements.

She is from Esketemc First Nation, of the Shuswap nation.

Katherine LeReverend has been with the Ministry of Attorney General, Legal Services Branch since 1994. She provides legal advice to the various service streams of the Ministry for Children and Family Development, including Child Protection, Children and Youth with Special Needs, Child and Youth Mental Health Services, and Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services Services.

Prior to joining the Attorney General, she practised law in Kamloops and Kelowna with the Crown Counsel Office, the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program, and in private practice.

When not practising law she can be found at the barn with her horse or on forest trails walking her two dogs.

Opening Prayer
Elder Maria Reed — Waabigekek Ikwe

Keynote Speaker
Elaine Alec — Naqsmist, "nux`meest ~ many coming together as one" Transformative Storytelling + Whole Systems Healing, Kamloops

About the Keynote Speaker
Elaine is from the Syilx (Okanagan) Nation and Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation and is a member of the Penticton Indian Band in the Interior of BC.​

She has been a political advisor, Chief of Staff for the BC Assembly of First Nations, Community Planner for her own First Nation, employee for the Province of BC, and Federal Government and Entrepreneur. Elaine has spent over 20 years in over 100 communities across Canada to promote healing and wellness. She is a partner of an Indigenous owned and operated planning company called Alderhill Planning Inc.

Elaine is a first-time author of "Calling My Spirit Back," a memoir about growing up as an Indigenous girl in Canada and the impacts of colonization. It also provides  Indigenous knowledge, teachings on how to cultivate safe spaces for diversity and inclusion.

Faculty
Richel Donaldson — Manager, Strategic Child Welfare and Reconciliation Policy, Ministry of Children and Family Development, Campbell River
Debra Lazzar — Aboriginal Community Legal Worker, Parents Legal Centre, Legal Aid BC, Victoria
Scarlet Mirzaian — Staff Lawyer, Parents Legal Centre, Legal Aid BC, Surrey
Dr. Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye) — Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, Victoria
Daniele D. Poulin — Somers Poulin Hall LLP, New Westminster
Frances Rosner — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
Adrienne S. Smith — Adrienne Smith Law, Vancouver (they/them) 
Renae Snell — Manager, Legislation and Legal Support, Ministry of Children and Family Development, Victoria
Andrea L. Thorpe — Thorpe & Company Lawyers, Vancouver 
Sora J. Vandervelde — Advocate-Paralegal, Vancouver Parents Legal Centre-Indigenous Services, Legal Aid BC, Vancouver

Click here for full faculty bios

Welcome and Land Acknowledgement (9:00 – 9:10)

Teresa Sheward — Program Lawyer, CLEBC, Vancouver
Katrina Harry — Manager, Parents Legal Centre, Legal Aid BC, Vancouver
Katherine R. LeReverend — Legal Counsel, Legal Services Branch, Ministry of Attorney General, Victoria

Opening Prayer

Elder Maria Reed — Waabigekek Ikwe

Opening Keynote "Cultivating Safe Spaces" (9:10 – 10:10)

Elaine Alec — Naqsmist, "nux`meest ~ many coming together as one" Transformative Storytelling + Whole Systems Healing, Kamloops

BREAK (10:10 – 10:20)

CFCSA Amendments and Amendments to CFCSA PC Rules (10:20 – 11:20)

• an overview of the amendments made to the Adoption Act and Child, Family and Community Service Act (CFCSA) through Bill 38 (2022), the Indigenous Self-Government in Child and Family Services Amendment Act
• a walkthrough of how the Ministry of Children and Family Development co-developed this legislation with Indigenous rightsholders and partners
• a focus on impacts this legislation will have on the Provincial Court, including the CFCSA PC Rules

Richel Donaldson — Manager, Strategic Child Welfare and Reconciliation Policy, Ministry of Children and Family Development, Campbell River
Dr. Sarah Morales (Su-taxwiye) — Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, Victoria
Renae Snell — Manager, Legislation and Legal Support, Ministry of Children and Family Development, Victoria

BREAK (11:20 – 11:30)

Case Law Update (11:30 – 12:30)

Daniele D. Poulin — Somers Poulin Hall LLP, New Westminster
Frances Rosner — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver

LUNCH (provided to in-person registrants) (12:30 – 1:30)

Applications to Cancel a Continuing Custody Order (CCO) (1:30 – 2:15)

• what is a CCO, why is a CCO made, how can a CCO be cancelled

Scarlet Mirzaian — Staff Lawyer, Parents Legal Centre, Legal Aid BC, Surrey
Andrea L. Thorpe — Thorpe & Company Lawyers, Vancouver 

Dealing with Mental Health and Substance Use Issues (2:15 – 3:15)

• Parents Legal Centre (PLC) Advocate/Aboriginal Community Legal Worker (ACLW) role
• common mental health and substance misuse issues for PLC clients
• mental health resources: assessments, Mental Health Teams, Community Services and Supportive Housing
• substance misuse resources: A&D counsellors, Residential & Outpatient Treatment, Community Services and Supportive Housing
• mental health and substance resources: Indigenous clients 

Debra Lazzar — Aboriginal Community Legal Worker, Parents Legal Centre, Legal Aid BC, Victoria
Sora J. Vandervelde — Advocate-Paralegal, Vancouver Parents Legal Centre-Indigenous Services, Legal Aid BC, Vancouver

BREAK (3:15 – 3:30)

Trans Youth in Care (3:30 – 4:00)

• practical overview of the law on the ability of trans youth to consent to gender-affirming healthcare
• summary of recent cases about this area of law
• the process for name and gender marker change applications for youth, including medical and parental consent requirements, and how youth in the care of the ministry or youth without the ability to obtain parental consent might access updated ID and records

Adrienne S. Smith — Adrienne Smith Law, Vancouver (they/them) 

Roundtable: The Future of Child Protection (4:00 – 4:30)

Richel Donaldson — Manager, Strategic Child Welfare and Reconciliation Policy, Ministry of Children and Family Development, Campbell River
Katrina Harry — Manager, Parents Legal Centre, Legal Aid BC, Vancouver
Debra Lazzar — Aboriginal Community Legal Worker, Parents Legal Centre, Legal Aid BC, Victoria
Katherine R. LeReverend — Legal Counsel, Legal Services Branch, Ministry of Attorney General, Victoria
Daniele D. Poulin — Somers Poulin Hall LLP, New Westminster
Frances Rosner — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
Adrienne S. Smith — Adrienne Smith Law, Vancouver (they/them) 
Renae Snell — Manager, Legislation and Legal Support, Ministry of Children and Family Development, Victoria
Andrea L. Thorpe — Thorpe & Company Lawyers, Vancouver 
Sora J. Vandervelde — Advocate-Paralegal, Vancouver Parents Legal Centre-Indigenous Services, Legal Aid BC, Vancouver