Implementation underway on recommendation on youth-on-youth death

Saskatchewan Social Services and the Yorkton Tribal Council Child and Family Services are reporting progress on 18 recommendations made after a 10-year-old boy killed a six-year-old boy in August 2013. The boy’s body was found in a wooded area not far from the Kahkewistahaw First Nation community centre. The recommendations came in May from the province’s children’s advocate Bob Pringle, who found there were significant gaps in aid provided to the 10-year-old by the tribal council. Pringle’s first recommendation is “That the Government of Saskatchewan develop and implement well-resourced early childhood development and poverty reduction strategies to advance the goals of its Child and Family Agenda.” Pringle noted that the 10-year-old boy had behavioural issues and said he probably should not have been in the community unsupervised. Among the steps taken by Social Services includes joint training session with First Nations child and family services on safety plans, and yearly program reviews on First Nations child welfare agencies rather than the former practice of every three years.