Victim narrative—the portrayal of institutions as helpless victims of bureaucracy, funding constraints and multi-layered accountability structures—pervades British Columbia’s education system when responsibility is diffused across ministries, school boards, arms-length agencies and external service providers, allowing each to point elsewhere when children’s needs go unmet. the result is that no single decision-maker is ever held to account for systemic failures. oag.bc.ca www2.gov.bc.ca
Recognizing victim narrative tactics
Governments routinely create elaborate webs of oversight: the Ministry of Education issues broad guidelines, school boards adopt local policies, Crown Agencies and Board Resourcing Offices manage governor appointments, and committees or consultants review implementation—while delegated agencies such as child-welfare authorities, health teams and the Representative for Children and Youth each have partial mandates. this layered model may appear thorough, but it functions as an accountability labyrinth: when supports falter, each player can claim responsibility lies elsewhere, and families are left chasing referrals rather than results. oag.bc.ca
The cost of victim narrative
As children wait for essential services—educational assistants, mental-health supports or specialised programming—families encounter repeated deferrals justified by “system complexity” or “shared duties.” the 2025 Ministry of Education page on supporting children in care illustrates this fragmentation: it lists partnerships among the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Children and Family Development, the Representative for Children and Youth and Indigenous education committees, yet offers no single point of redress when the system falls short www2.gov.bc.ca. the human toll is profound: children endure prolonged exclusion, parents burn out in endless appeals, and educators operate in a perpetual state of triage rather than proactive support.
Strategies to counter victim narrative
- Consolidate accountability under defined roles. amend the School Act to designate a single responsible authority—such as the superintendent or board chair—who is legally accountable for implementing specific supports, with clear performance metrics and public reporting requirements.
- Require integrated progress dashboards. mandate that the Ministry of Education maintain a centralized, publicly accessible dashboard tracking timelines and outcomes for key recommendations (for example, RCY’s “Room for Improvement” directives), ensuring that families and advocates can see who is responsible and where delays occur.
- Leverage the duty to accommodate. use section 8 of the BC Human Rights Code to challenge multi-agency deflection by requiring boards to deliver supports directly, rather than relying on delegated partners, thereby simplifying routes to complaint and remedy.
- Mobilize strategic advocacy coalitions. unite parent networks, the BC Teachers’ Federation and Inclusion BC to publish “accountability scorecards” that name responsible officials and compare promised versus delivered services, keeping the spotlight on decision-makers rather than diffuse committees.
- Embed consequences for non-performance. tie funding disbursements to measurable implementation milestones—such as percentage of IEPs enacted within statutory timelines—so that failure to act results in tangible budgetary repercussions rather than passing the blame. oag.bc.ca
Conclusion
By exposing and dismantling the victim narrative, we reclaim accountability for our children’s education. only when a clear chain of responsibility replaces layers of abstraction can British Columbia ensure that supports reach the students who depend on them—no more finger-pointing, no more hidden delays, and no more victims of our own design.
