Dan MacLennan, Courier-Islander

North Island MLA Claire Trevena is back at a familiar post in the shadow cabinet announced recently by new BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix.

Trevena is the party’s new Children and Family Development critic. She previously held the Child Care and Women’s Rights critic position from 2006 to 2009 when she became assistant deputy speaker.

“I’m very pleased to have been offered this,” she told the Courier-Islander. “I think it’s going to be a real challenge. We have more than 10 years of attacks on families in BC, and this is an area where you’re dealing with the most vulnerable people, so it’s going to be a real challenge to work through some of these issues and make sure that we are holding the government to account and providing answers for people who are looking for answers.”…

“This is a ministry that’s gone through so many different re-organizations, so many different changes, so much instability,” she said. “I want to get to the root of this and find out what (effects) those changes have had on people who are needing services.”

“Families and their needs have to come first for us,” Trevena said in a release last Wednesday. “I will be offering solutions for the many children and families who need our support — from ensuring we have a real plan for affordable accessible child care, to correcting the serious flaws in the child welfare system, to meeting the needs of children and families with special needs.”…

“We will present concrete proposals on the economy, public health care, public education, the environment and social justice that address the needs of working families and communities,” he said. “The B.C. legislature has only sat four days in 10 months.