This is the Trevor Zink We Have Always Known
Don't miss related posting: the government pulled down the transcript site before this was completed BUT please read what is posted - You will see how wily the government representatives are by their testimony! :
- If you are new to this site scroll down to the link INTRODUCTION. If you have accessed a single posting view list of topic links to the left
- Also visit our important Sister Links to the left - scroll down
Trevor Zinck: Independent MLA - The Nova Scotia NDP has lost the best
(updated March 2010, July 2011, August 2011)
Scroll down for contact info
Update ! ! ! !
This is the Trevor Zink We Have Always Known
Zinck Helped Family with High Medical Costs
(updated March 2010, July 2011, August 2011)
Scroll down for contact info
Update ! ! ! !
This is the Trevor Zink We Have Always Known
Zinck Helped Family with High Medical Costs
Community Herald
Nov 21, 2011
I had no idea what an MLA did for his or her salary in Nova Scotia. I have learned that what one reads and hears about MLAs is not necessarily true about all of them.
I was skeptical. I painted all with the one brush. Not so anymore.
This past summer, when my husband’s son was faced with the huge cost of medication which could potentially save his life (treatment not covered by MSI nor his particular health care plan), we stepped in with our retirement savings and line of credit. A friend had suggested that we contact our MLA to see if there was any help for our situation. Trevor Zinck immediately provided forms, made phone calls, came to the initial medical appointment that started the treatment and set into motion a plan that would help to keep us out of tremendous financial debt.
We came to see our MLA as a person who cares about his constituents and community. We especially appreciate the time, interest and energy he has put into “our" situation.
Thank you, Trevor Zinck. You are a wonderful human being. We all make mistakes. You deserve to keep your chin up and be proud of who you are. I hope everyone in Nova Scotia has a Trevor Zinck as his or her MLA.
Lynda Scott Lunn, Dartmouth
Linda Youngson and Marilyn Dey have been advocating for a clean-up of the Children Services department for many years. They are both well educated with several university degrees between them. They have studied the Children and Family Services Act of Nova Scotia and have set in on many court proceedings in the Nova Scotia Family Court System. Over the years they have raised serious concerns about the department directly as well as the many government offices and NGO connected with Child Services.
I was skeptical. I painted all with the one brush. Not so anymore.
This past summer, when my husband’s son was faced with the huge cost of medication which could potentially save his life (treatment not covered by MSI nor his particular health care plan), we stepped in with our retirement savings and line of credit. A friend had suggested that we contact our MLA to see if there was any help for our situation. Trevor Zinck immediately provided forms, made phone calls, came to the initial medical appointment that started the treatment and set into motion a plan that would help to keep us out of tremendous financial debt.
We came to see our MLA as a person who cares about his constituents and community. We especially appreciate the time, interest and energy he has put into “our" situation.
Thank you, Trevor Zinck. You are a wonderful human being. We all make mistakes. You deserve to keep your chin up and be proud of who you are. I hope everyone in Nova Scotia has a Trevor Zinck as his or her MLA.
Lynda Scott Lunn, Dartmouth
-----------------------------------
Linda Youngson and Marilyn Dey have been advocating for a clean-up of the Children Services department for many years. They are both well educated with several university degrees between them. They have studied the Children and Family Services Act of Nova Scotia and have set in on many court proceedings in the Nova Scotia Family Court System. Over the years they have raised serious concerns about the department directly as well as the many government offices and NGO connected with Child Services.
Please access the website Revealing Truth in Nova Scotia http://revealingtruthinnovascotia.blogspot.com/ to read articles on these concerns. Some of these concerns include:
- the Ombudsman’s office not doing it’s duty informing children in the foster system of their rights;
- children being denied their legal right to independent lawyers;
- children in the foster system being sent out of province and even out of country with no one watching over their well being;
- bias parent / psychological assessment reports;
- the broken complaint system of the NS Board of Examiners of Psychology
- a one sided court system where lawyers not only do not defend the parents, they actually direct the necks of their clients into the noose, guaranteeing the lose of their children;
- Nova Scotia court justices making decisions in total disregard of the Children and Family Services Act of Nova Scotia. etc . . .
The Senate committee researching the state of children’s right’s in Canada invited Ms Youngson and Thelma Gillespie to traveled to Ottawa to make a presentation. The committee findings were published in Children: the Silenced Citizens 2007.
Section 88 of the Children and Family Services Act stipulates that the government was suppose appoint an annual committee to review the Children and Services Act and it implementations yet this had not been done for over a decade! After the Minister repeatedly refused to appoint this committee Ms Youngson and Ms Dey took the, then, Minister of Community, David Morse to court.
Although they won the court case, the appointments to the committee became a farce and a sham with the Minister stacking the committee with government people and even appointing personal friends as the parent representatives. The sham continues to this day.
Now we wish to speak of Trevor Zinck MLA for Dartmouth North. Over the years we have met and spoken with politicians in all parties on both the federal and the provincial levels. In the past, we have attempted to work with the NDP critics of Community Services, Jerry Pye and Marilyn Moore. However, we quickly discovered that although they verbally expressed concern, all they did was compile written files of concerns and complaints and then did nothing to address them!
Meanwhile discussions from local radio talk indicated that claims made by victims of Children Services were suspect. Apparently, the people of Nova Scotia needed to believe in a just system - a system that we knew did NOT exist in our province.
When Trevor was elected in 2006 with 49.47% of the vote (his closest rival won only 27.46% of the vote), he was appointed critic of Community Service. In this position, Trevor quickly showed himself to be a person who genuinely cared about the people in this province. Instead of just sitting at his desk waiting for people to beat a path to his door, he went out to witness first-hand what was going on in Children Services. We know this to be true because we gave him the opportunities. Just a sampling of his first-hand work included:
- witnessing children being taken away from their parents at birth in the hospital;
- witnessing married couples being forced to hire separate lawyers and then not being allowed into the meetings with each other’s lawyers;
- witnessing presentations to the corrupt Children Services committee that we had fought so hard for;
- attended family court proceedings - On this we were shocked when Darrell Dexter, leader of the NDP party forbade Trevor from sitting in the back of the court as a court witness - The Family Courts of Halifax Dartmouth are open courts (for good reason). Certainly this was the correct place for the critic of Community Services to be to see first hand what was going inside of these courts! We encourage all people to sit in on these court cases and become familiar with the CFS Act. The court NEED to know that concerned people are watching them.
[ Please note: The family court system in Nova Scotia used to be a closed secret system all across the province. Decades ago, it was decreed that the court were to be opened up. They began by opening up the family courts in Halifax Dartmouth and some family courts in Cape Breton. The other courts across the province were suppose to follow. They never did! People need to demand that these courts be opened - Much wickedness against your family and your rights goes on behind these closed doors! ]
Though the CFS act promises all kinds of services and financial assistance to parents before the government is suppose to even think of removing children from their families, Trevor quickly learned this was rarely done (more like never) . As a result, we have seen Trevor, himself, sourcing assistance for parents so that children would not be taken away. For example CS was threatening to remove children because of a lack of furniture and Trevor sourced the needed furniture for these parents. In addition, we have seen Trevor provide transportation for parents who did not have cars and/or were suffering from physical conditions to various meetings concerning their cases.
Trevor is one of a kind ! - We have met so many politicians but we can truley state that no one cares for the people the way Trevor does ! - Trevor is the only one we have seen willing to roll up his personal sleeves to witness first-hand the failings of the system and to help the people in practical meaningful ways!
We were shocked and disappointed in Darrell Dexter’s pretense of concern for Trevor’s personal situation paired with a false accusation against Trevor. In this diatribe Dexter claimed he never offered a payoff to Trevor to make him disappear and inferred that Trevor had made up this story in desperation to defend himself. In doing so Dexter was either claiming Trevor to be a liar or demented.
We can assure you on this score that Trevor is neither a liar or demented. Way back in October 2009, Trevor informed us of Dexter’s attempt to pay him off to leave the party. At the time he also told us that Dexter had told him that if he ever went public with this "offer", he would deny it. There was no reason for Trevor to lie to us way back in October concerning this situation. This was not a last minute "grasping at straws" for a last minute defense. Without reservation, we believe Trevor's statement of an attempted pay-off was true and correct.
Now a word to Dexter and the NDP party - How far you have fallen! You who are suppose to represent the common people, you who proclaim to be the defenders of the downtrodden and those who are victimized and in need.
In the 2009 election, Trevor won 57% of the vote. His closest rival won only 32%. Trevor was the personification of what an NDP MLA should be. He tirelessly works for the good of his people - working day and night on a regular basis for your party. He gave nothing but his best to you.
But we quickly saw your true colors when instead of appointing Trevor Zick Minister of Community Services, you appointed a “newbie” in politics who knew nothing about being a politician and even less about Children Services, a “newbie” who would be lead around by the nose by the bureaucrats in Community Services, who would tell her only what they wanted her to know - and she would not know the difference.
Dexter, you have done nothing to clean up the corruption and failures in Family Services and you have no intention to do so. We elected the NDP for change. Trevor was elected in Dartmouth North to fulfill the aspirations of a people who have often been victimized by Community Services.
You sit on your butts, not wanting to rock the boat because by this you think you will retain your position and bide your time to accumulate your needed time to collect your fat pensions. You have cannibalized your best. And for what reason? Because Trevor is the ONLY politician who can attest first hand concerning the corruption in Children Services! For shame, Dexter, you do this at the cost of innocent families who expected more of you!
----------------------------------------
Trevor Zinck, Independent MLA, Former Critic of Community Services
I recall listening to a Nova Scotia radio talk show where a person who called in was informing the audience that Children Services was taking new-born babies away at birth from the hospitals in Nova Scotia.
The reaction? People did not believe it.
Well let us tell you, this is true. We have been witness to this ourselves - as was Trevor Zink.
Trevor Zinck did an exceptional job in his position, going out, first hand, to witness the wickedness of what is going on in Children Services /Children's Aid/Community Services system. He, himself, has been witness to newborns being removed at the hospital from loving caring families.
For shame Nova Scotia politicians for running off the best we ever had. Your day will come. What you do in secret will eventually find you out and some day, 5, 10, 20 or more years may go by but some day YOU and YOUR SHAME will be exposed.
Below is a press release from Trevor Zinck's office - Comments have been added in squared parentheses [ ] .
Dartmouth – NDP Community Services Critic Trevor Zinck is calling on the Minister of Community Services to fill vacancies on the Children and Family Services Committee. The committee has four long-standing vacancies that must be filled by parents, members of minority groups and the public. The committee should have a total of ten members.
[It is important to understand that this is NOT a legal committee if all members specified in the CFS Act are not appointed ! ]
“Through this committee, parents can give the government valuable feedback about its child protection and adoption systems: both the good and the bad,” says Zinck. “Because the full committee hasn’t met for a long time, it hasn’t been able to make decisions involving some of the province’s most vulnerable children.”
[ BUT the committee has illegally gone ahead with "business as usual", in contempt of the law ! ]
The committee is now made up of one parent, one legal aid lawyer and four members of the Community Services Minister’s staff. Although the purpose of the committee is to hear presentations from parents and the public, it hasn’t done so since May 2007.
[This is the membership of the Committee as decreed by the Children and Family Services Act (CFSA):Section 88 (1) (2) :
“The Minister shall establish an advisory committee whose function is to review annually [The word "shall" is a legal term that means this is NOT an option, that the direction is mandatory. This current committee has existed now for almost 2 1/2 years and has not put together any report ! ] the provisions of this Act and the services relating thereto and to report annually to the Minister concerning the operation of the Act and whether the principles and purpose of the Act are being achieved.The advisory committee shall be appointed by the Minister, after consultation with the relevant groups and individuals, and shall include(a) 2 persons whose children have been, are OR may be in need of protective services;(b) a representative from an agency;(c) a representative of the Minister;(d) a legal aid lawyer(e) 2 persons drawn from the cultural, racial or linguistic minority communities; AND(f) such other persons, not exceeding 3, as the Minister may determine.]
“Parents either don’t know about this committee, or don’t feel welcome. Anyone who might be critical of the child protection system is poorly-represented on the committee,” says Zinck. “Instead it’s made up of representatives hand-picked by the Minister.”
[The truth is: people who are critcal are NOT represented on this committee at all! Many people who make the criteria to be on the committee have applied to be on the committee and have been repeatedly ignored ! - This writer is one ]
In 2005, after NDP MLA Graham Steele [as a private lawyer] represented a parents’ group [No ! 2 independent advocates : Linda Youngson and Marilyn Dey] , the courts ruled this committee must be fully reinstated. Two years later, the government still has not acted on that ruling.
[Correct, Trevor ! And as such, this is NOT a legal committee ]