A St. Albert woman’s bid to have the Alberta government pay her legal costs at a fatality inquiry that is looking into the death of her daughter has been denied.
A Queen’s Bench justice ruled against Velvet Martin’s application to order the Alberta government to pay for a lawyer to represent her at the hearing.
Velvet Martin’s daughter, Samantha, died in 2006 after collapsing from an apparent heart attack. The inquiry is supposed to determine what caused the girl’s cardiac arrest, as well as make recommendations on how to prevent future deaths.
Martin lived in foster care for most of her life. She was born with a rare chromosomal disorder and the government insisted the Martin family place her in foster care to receive the necessary medical supports.
Martin has been representing herself and her daughter at the fatality inquiry, which heard evidence for several weeks earlier this year. The inquiry has a government appointed counsel leading the hearing and there are lawyers representing the foster family and the department of Children’s Services.
She made the application for funding in September through lawyer Robert Lee who argued the family’s case cried out for the court’s intervention. He pressed Justice J.J. Gill to order funding, because the fatality inquiry would not reach a strong conclusion if the family wasn’t given a lawyer.
He said without a strong conclusion and thorough recommendations more children could die in provincial care.
“The legacy of this order will never be known, and yet I submit, there will be children who will be alive because of this order,” he told the justice.
Lee was seeking what it called an “Okanagan order” that forces government’s to pay legal costs, but limits them to very specific circumstances.
In his written decision, Gill argued Martin’s case simply did not meet the test the Supreme Court of Canada had outlined for Okanagan orders.
“It is not essential to avoid an injustice in derogation of the public interest that this court grant the order sought by the applicants.”
Gill concluded that Martin had never asked the provincial court judge running the inquiry to recommend she be given funding and that Martin had not adequately shown this would be a significant financial hardship for her.
The fatality inquiry is prohibited from finding anyone criminally or civilly responsible for the girl’s death and is meant more as a fact-finding exercise. In his ruling Gill said that in that context it was hard to see an injustice being done.
“The applicant, Velvet Martin, has chosen to participate in a fact-finding inquiry that shall not contain findings of legal responsibility or conclusions of law.
Martin said she was deeply disappointed with the decision.
“It says a lot about how children are valued.”
Martin said when the inquiry resumes today, she will represent her daughter to the best of her ability, but she has consistently felt out-matched.
“I will just go ahead and I will do the best for my daughter.”
The inquiry is set to resume today and conclude on Friday.
