Dr. Janne Holmgren, now a professor of Mount Royal College in the Department of Criminal Justice studies and a former staff member at AARC, attended and worked at Kids Inc. in the early 1990s. She strongly emphasizes that AARC and Kids Inc. are profoundly different:
“AARC is a treatment facility and organization which adheres to a governing board of directors and the legal community at large. Kids Inc. was not a treatment centre of any kind as it failed to include the community at large and excluded rather than included its clients into becoming fully responsible healthy youth and adults who could contribute to society at large.”
http://www.aarc.ab.ca/I'm not sure which legal community Janne was referring to, but it can't be the Legislature in Alberta. Our elected officials felt that a facility providing intensive treatment to youth suffering from chemical dependency ought to have a license:
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/Documents/isy ... /doc/#hit1MS M. LAING: Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the chairman
of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission. Earlier
this session the chairman of AADAC assured the House that
checks and balances were in place for the controversial Kids of
the Canadian West drug addiction program, which is scheduled
to open this fall in Calgary, but now we find out that this is not
the case. Government officials from several departments,
including Health and the Solicitor General, will meet soon to
discuss how to license this facility and how to deal with its
potential violation of Alberta laws. My question is: why weren't
these issues examined and resolved before the government gave
a $600,000 grant to the Kids program last year?
MR. NELSON: Mr. Speaker, in recommending moneys to be
provided to Kids of the Canadian West, we went through and
did all these checks and balances, and quite frankly it is my
opinion at this present time that they are in place.
So even though Dinning and Dougan came back from New Jersey dead set against Kids, one year later the government was determining how to license Kids. So what happened next, you might ask?
http://www.assembly.ab.ca/Documents/isy ... /doc/#hit1MS M. LAING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are to
the minister responsible for human rights. Kids of the Canadian
West, an affiliate of the American Kids program, continues to
experience difficulties in meeting its opening deadline due to
concerns over human rights violations. Recently a third
American affiliate has been suspended by a state licensing
authority due to allegations of human rights violations. Will the
minister responsible for human rights meet with the chairman of
the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission and demand
that he withhold funding pending a full-scale investigation of
proven and alleged human rights violations by the American
parent agency in three separate states?
June 29, 1990 Alberta Hansard 2353
MS McCOY: Mr. Speaker, I believe the situation is being very
closely watched by the appropriate agencies and ministers, but
certainly the points that the hon. member raises are important
ones. I understand that the project in Calgary is stalled at the
moment pending further discussions and investigations.
MR. SPEAKER: Supplementary.
MS M. LAING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I hope they're
more than stalled until we're sure.
Children are extremely vulnerable to the violation of their
basic rights to food, clothing, shelter, and protection from
violence and abuse. As adults we have a responsibility to act on
their behalf in order to protect them. Will the minister responsible
for human rights investigate the treatment methods of the
Kids programs, including the possible use of unlawful confinement,
food and sleep deprivation, and physical violence to break
down children?
MS McCOY: Mr. Speaker, many ministers in cabinet work in
concert on these sorts of issues, and I can assure the hon.
member that the items she is raising are being discussed.
Kids couldn't get a license. The shit hit the fan south of the border, and the opposition asked for the tax-payer's money back. So the Kids posse went undergound at this point. Newton was ditched, along with any notion of adhering to any legal standards by obtaining a license. To this day, the AARC facility has no license. Swing and a miss for Janne.
So we see from the historical record that the AARC FAQ is FUCKED. Dougan and Dinning came back from Jersey, set up Kids, and had the rug pulled out from under them when someone put the program under some scrutiny. Fast forward twenty months, and AARC is up and running, former Kids clients as peer counselors, and a former Kids clinical in the driver's seat. And zero oversight by any government body.
So what happened to the $600 000 forked over in the fall of 1989?
