Failures in Children’s Protection in Newfoundland and Labrador: From the Hughes (1991) to Markesteyn and Day (2006) Inquiries and Beyond

The death in 2003 of Zachary Turner, a child in receipt of children’s protection services in Foxtrap, Newfoundland, sparked an independent inquiry into his death. Subsequently, other reviews were completed of children’s protection services. These were not the first reviews or inquiries of this kind in Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1991, Justice Samuel Hughes had conducted a public inquiry into children’s protection services. This article is a critical historical analysis of selected aspects of children’s protection services. The authors uncover repeated failures by government in its child protection systems and discuss implications for future concerns.