BC’s Assistant Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Children and Family Development is Sandra Griffin. She is with the Integrated Quality Assurance Team (broken link).
She was:
- Executive Director of the tax-funded daycare lobby group, the Child Care Federation of Canada
- Executive Director of the federal-government body, the Child Care HR Sector Council
- Ken Dryden’s Chief of Staff while he forced the provinces to sign the daycare agreements in 2005 later cancelled when the Conservatives won the 2006 election.
- one of 2 unnamed “Canadian academics” (with Martha Friendly) consulted for the Innocenti Centre’s (Unicef related) 2008 report that claimed Canada was “dead last” in meeting “benchmarks” for children.
Here is an article “We are the State” by Ms Griffin attacking those who oppose “state-care” and say funding should go to parents not the daycare industry:
This is ” fear-monger[ing]: the concept of evil/bad embodied in state care; the call to get the state out of the lives of families; the idea that parents should not trust the state with their children; the notion that the state is lurking around the corner, waiting to sneak away with Canadian children and deliberately ruin them. But wait! In a free and democratic society, we are the state! It is our responsibility to ensure that as the state, we build the infrastructure that best meets the needs of our populace.”
Read the rest (broken link)
Here is her background:
Sandra Griffin is the executive director of the CCCF (Canadian Child Care Federation—a “charity” established and funded by the Federal government). She is founding president of the CCCF and past president of the Early Childhood Educators of British Columbia.
From the Federal government advisory body, the Child Care Human Resource Sector Council (broken link) (tax funded and full of daycare lobby heads):
“The sector council congratulates Sandra Griffin on her new position as chief of staff for the federal Minister of Social Development, Ken Dryden. As the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF) representative on the sector council and executive committee, Sandra was a key contributor to the growth and development of the sector council over the years. “
Here is a sarcastic article on her appointment (Feb 6, 2008. Public Eye – web article) which also has the email announcement from the Deputy Minister which avoids naming the non-government organization she worked for:
“Four days after she was named children and family development’s new quality assurance assistant deputy, the ministry has finally gotten around to telling staff about Sandra Griffin. According to an email circulated yesterday morning on behalf of deputy minister Lesley du Toit, Ms. Griffin describes herself as “someone who has worked in the field of children and family development for close to 35 years because ‘the health and wellbeing of children and families is the basis of health and wellbeing for a nation.'” And, as an added bonus, her experience—by mysterious happenchance—seems to exactly match the preferred qualifications for that new post—which was filled after a poorly-advertised, Christmas job search. The following is a complete copy of that email. […]
Feb 6, 2008. Public Eye – web article: “It must have been fate”
“Most recently, she headed a national non-government organization in Ottawa prior to becoming Chief of Staff for the Honourable Ken Dryden when he was Minister for Social Development Canada.”
kidsfirstcanada.org 