[killer_carlson]

Don Braid now joins with a powerful piece, calling out the government secrecy.

http://calgaryherald.com/news/politi...ult-of-secrecy

That’s entirely beside the point. Nothing happened until Postmedia columnist Paula Simons broke the story on Nov. 18. Everything since has been reaction to that. We’re entitled to conclude that if details of Serenity’s case hadn’t been published, silence and inaction would persist.

The cult of secrecy is supposed to protect siblings of victims, but there’s no evidence it shields anything but government departments that make massive blunders like the ones leading to Serenity’s death. Care workers failed to check in on this family for the crucial months before she died, despite ample signs of trouble.

Could any of this happen because she was a First Nations child whose death and identity may be kept secret, by law? Quite possibly.

Would there be such secrecy if a child on your street died after being starved and brutalized? Not a chance.

Serenity had widespread injuries, to her head, anus and genitals. Her hymen was gone. Severely hypothermic, she had dwindled from normal size down to 18 lbs, the weight of a nine-month old baby.

Serenity could have been saved in the months before she died. Failing that, justice might at least have honoured her memory.