Alberta child and youth advocate calls for more provincial accountability

The Alberta child and youth advocate is asking for more accountability when it comes to the province taking action on recommendations his office has made.

Alberta’s child and youth advocate is asking for more accountability when it comes to the province taking action on recommendations his office has made.

Del Graff has been the advocate for close to 11 years. He gave his final report before he retires to a legislative committee Tuesday afternoon.

The report covers his office’s activities from April 2020 to March 2021.

Graff told the committee there are areas he wants addressed to improve services for young people. The report includes six recommendations for the province.

Graff said it’s important the government starts to act on more of the recommendations. He said currently the legislation requires the ministry to publicly respond within 75 days of receiving the recommendations.

“It is the only requirement for government, related to our recommendations,” Graff said.

He said that in 2017, the ministerial panel on child intervention and the standing committee on legislative officers called on implementation that would ensure accountability from the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate and government departments.

“Therefore we’re proposing that this annual review process focus on our office’s contributions and recommendations made and what the relevant ministries have done to address those recommendations.”