about sums it for all of us "in-house" actually...

Not making unrealistic commitments and not "staying the course" in the face of mounting obstacles would indicate that some lessons have been learned.

The new Representative for Children & Youth discussed this on Vaughn Palmer's show recently and seemed to be suggesting that the the plans and timetable should depend on resolving outstanding issues, including capacity and agreement among First Nations themselves as to what should be done.

Sounds a lot more sensible than CLBC, which was simply rammed into place without resolving major problems and disagreements (many of which remain unresolved), an approach that has seriously undermined confidence in the new body and jeopardised its chances of ever successfully living up to its mandate.

I hope we do better for Aboriginal children and communities, no matter how long it takes.

The Liberals have already committed to a 4 year contract with someone they consider to be an expert in transformation. They will have to take responsibility and be held accountable for the great expense of hiring this DM from South Africa and paying her big bucks plus a living allowance.

In the meantime, there are lots of other individuals also making big bucks from the "Aboriginal agenda" at mcfd. Follow the money Sean.

The previous posters are on to something. I think the BC public and taxpayers would be horrified if anyone ever demanded a full accounting of how many tens (hundreds?) of millions have been wasted on endless, senseless restructuring at MCFD over the past decade, and since 2002 in particular, and how little demonstrable benefit has been produced in return. (i.e. direct benefits consistent with the Ministry's mandate, not as in benefits to consultants, or theoretical/ ideological/ political benefits, etc.)

The travesty is even more stark when you consider how much the Ministry could have accomplished if all those tax dollars had instead been spent on directly helping children, families and adults with developmental disabilities overcome crisis and failure instead.

You also should check out the politics of personal and professional destruction that is going on at MCFD these days where the reputations and professional futures of some excellent employees are being trifled with for entertainment. The level of paranoia is over the top and out of control and the climate has never been so bad.

We are paying for this?

Dawn is right on the money and the BC public and taxpayers would also be horrified by the behaviour of some of our senior public officials and some of our elected politicians. MCFD is a Disaster Area and the Premier needs to declare it as such and provide every imagineable resource available not only to staff and CLBC but to the contract sector in order to restore the health of one of the most important ministries in BC.

To begin with, the position of Deputy Minister should be chosen in the same way as the Representative for Children and Youth was chosen - by MLA's from BOTH parties rather than by one individual who has shown himself to care nothing about the children and youth of BC.

It is shocking that an adult - the Premier of British Columbia - cannot admit that he has made a mistake. Ask yourselves what this says about the man.