Area MLA Jason Nixon hopes that a new ministerial panel formed to examine the province's child intervention system and make recommendations for improvements will lead to a better overall care for children and their families.
Nixon, the Wildrose MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, is one of 13 people on the panel, which was launched last week and is expected to begin work immediately.
Members on the panel also include NDP, PC and Liberal MLAs and others.
The panel will make recommendations to improve Alberta's child death review process, propose actions to strengthen the child intervention system, and explore the systemic issues that lead to children coming into government care.
For his part, MLA Nixon says he hopes the panel's work will be "transparent and productive."
"This is really not a partisan issue," said Nixon. "Unfortunately, we've seen some very alarming things that have happened in the past. It's brought to light that there are significant problems both within the system, as well as within the investigative and review side of where a child dies in the care of the province.
"We want to make the scope very tight and focused on the issues. Hopefully, we will be able to fix some of the issues with the system for the greatest of all reasons, Alberta's children.
"I go into this with a lot of hope that we can put aside partisan politics and work together. If we see the government attempting to block information from the public or not to take the process seriously, I'm going to raise concerns."
Irfan Sabir, minister of human services, said: "There is nothing more heartbreaking than the death of a child, and no task more important than preventing these needless tragedies.
"It is our responsibility as legislators and as a society to do more, and to do better, for our children. This panel's work is critical to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to be safe, nurtured and to thrive."
