Inquest into B.C. woman's starvation death recommends better pay for front-line caregivers

The jury in the Florence Girard coroner's inquest has returned a unanimous verdict, classifying the death of the 54-year-old woman with Down syndrome as homicide caused by starvation.

Homicide is a neutral term for human-caused death that does not imply criminality or intent.

The five-person jury also submitted 13 recommendations, including better pay for front-line caregivers, unannounced visits to homes where vulnerable clients are placed and changes to support family members of a vulnerable individual who want to care for that person in their home. 

Girard weighed about 50 pounds when she died in 2018 in the Port Coquitlam home of Astrid Dahl, a caregiver funded through the provincial Crown corporation Community Living B.C. (CLBC).

The jury foreman told coroner Donita Kuzma that home-share providers should get "a living wage commensurate with the complexity of care needed" beyond paying for basic necessities.

The foreman says the jury, which deliberated for almost two days, heard "repeatedly" that funding isn't adequate to attract and retain home-share providers.

The recommendations also include making compensation for home-share co-ordinators in charge of monitoring living arrangements comparable with pay for similar positions with the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

Sister responds

Girard's sister, Sharon Bursey, said she was "pretty emotional" after hearing the verdict, but felt vindicated by the 13 recommendations.

"There's too many people suffering under the care of CLBC while they're lining their wallets, and it's disgusting," she said.

She also made a plea for others to pay attention to the issue and join her in demanding change from elected officials.

"This could be you or your own family member being in government care. People need to see them for who they are, they are people. They're human beings that don't deserve to suffer, die of starvation."

Tamara Taggart, president of Down Syndrome B.C., said she was overwhelmed by the jury's verdict.

"We have systemic failures, we have systemic indifference toward people with developmental and intellectual disabilities in this province," she said.

"CLBC is a Crown corporation that we are paying $1.7 billion for. And the jury spoke loud and clear today that they are a miserable failure."

Taggart said she hopes the recommendations are followed so that Girard "didn't die for nothing."

CEO apologizes

Ross Chilton, CEO of Community Living B.C., said in a statement that "the system and CLBC failed Florence."

"We failed her family who trusted that Florence would receive the emotional and physical supports she required," he said.

"The checks in place at that time didn't work. While acknowledging that truth is painful, it's important to do so we can prevent such a tragedy in the future. On behalf of CLBC I offer an unreserved apology to Florence's family, friends and loved ones."

Dahl was a subcontractor for Kinsight Community Society, an agency under contract by CLBC, which funds numerous services for adults with developmental disabilities, including the home-share program. 

In 2022, Dahl was convicted of failing to provide Girard the necessaries of life. Her initial 12-month conditional sentence was increased to a 15-month prison sentence by the B.C. Court of Appeal in 2023. Dahl never served any time in jail because of the length of the judicial process. Charges against Kinsight were stayed. 

Coroner's inquests are formal court proceedings that publicly review the circumstances of a death to address community concerns or raise awareness of preventable deaths, according to the B.C. Coroners Service website. 

Jury members are not charged with finding fault but rather issue recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.