By The Canadian Press

Youth rep says boy’s death shows B.C. must fund program for drug-addicted kids

Oct 20, 2016 | 1:18 PM

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s representative for children and youth says the death of a 15-year-old drug-addicted boy points to the desperate need for government-funded programs that could save lives.

Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond has released a report on the death of Nick Lang, a Metis boy who died in June 2015, six days after entering a government-funded rehab program in Campbell River.

Turpel-Lafond says the teen began having behaviour problems in Grade 4 and by the time he became addicted to drugs his parents tried repeatedly to get help and were forced to use the justice system after he assaulted his mother.

Deputy representative Dawn Thomas-Wightman says the teen had to plead guilty to assault and was ordered by a judge to attend a full-time treatment program paid for by the Children’s Ministry.

He was found hanging in a bedroom closet in the care home where he was staying, and a coroner’s investigation did not determine a cause of death, which Thomas-Wightman says may never be known.

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She says Nick was not in government care and lived with a well-functioning middle-class family near a major urban centre in B.C., where Metis-specific services were not available despite his parents’ efforts.

Children’s Minister Stephanie Cadieux says she will discuss the report with other ministries to determine how services could be improved.