What did government departments do when they were alerted to alleged abuser at daycare?

HALIFAX, NS - Justice Minister Ross Landry and Community Services Minister Denise Peterson-Rafuse need to account for their departments' actions when they became aware of an alleged abuser working at the East Preston Daycare Centre.

The government is facing a class-action lawsuit over allegations of abuse at the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children. A man accused of abuse in affidavits was working at the East Preston Daycare up until last year.

"What did government officials know, and when did they know it, about the employment of an alleged child abuser at a daycare?" asked Progressive Conservative leader Jamie Baillie.

Baillie says the government's silence in the wake of the revelations raises concerns that government officials may have mishandled the response.

"If the reason Community Services or the Department of Justice didn’t act had anything to do with a lawsuit, then I believe that they have failed in their first duty, which is to protect the public, and in particular, our children," said Baillie. "Nothing short of a full accounting of what transpired here is due."

The government was informed about the potentially dangerous situation by lawyers working on the lawsuit sometime in late 2010 but it appears the directors of the daycare only learned about it months later through media.

-30-