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B.C.’s Indigenous child welfare system ‘underfunded, broken beyond measure’

October 8, 2024

The proposed class-action lawsuit seeks to include all Indigenous children who faced “delays, denials or service gaps” in accessing health care and social services

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Angela Bespflug, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit filed against the B.C. and Canadian governments. PHOTO BY DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Tyee: The Vancouver Sun – Canada and B.C. have “systemically discriminated” against Indigenous children for generations by taking off-reserve Indigenous children into government care instead of adequately funding services to help families, according to a proposed class-action lawsuit.

Lawyers are in B.C. Supreme Court court this week arguing to certify the action, which seeks individual compensation for all First Nations children taken into care who did not ordinarily live on a reserve in B.C., plus all Inuit and Métis children who were “victims of this system discrimination” between Jan. 1, 1992, and the date of certification, according to the claim.

The lawsuit also seeks to include all Indigenous children who faced “delays, denials or service gaps” in accessing health care and social services in B.C., as well as their parents, grandparents and caregivers.

The action has four representatives plaintiffs, including Jessy Rae Destiny We-gyet Neal, 37, of the Driftpile Cree Nation, who was in and out of government care in B.C. from the time she was five and who became a permanent ward of the state at 11. She was fostered by a non-Indigenous family, according to the lawsuit.

A second plaintiff, Laura Julie-Faith Dobson, also 37, of the Haida Nation, lived in 17 different foster homes until she was 18, mostly non-Indigenous, and was separated from her 13 siblings, it said.

A third, Rachelle Deschamps, who is from the Red Rock First Nations Band in Nipigon, Ont., and who lives off-reserve in Coquitlam, had her then 12-year-old daughter apprehended in 2016 by police because the girl was at home alone without a cellphone, the claim said. The daughter remained in provincial care for two weeks, it said.

And a fourth plaintiff, Jake Phillip Lopez Smith, 36, of Haida Gwaii, was placed in care, where he suffered “racism, isolation and neglect” and when he aged out of government care, he was provided no assistance, it said. He has overcome many of his challenges, but the childhood trauma continues to affect him, it said.

Class-action lawyer Angela Bespflug told court on Monday that the federal government and the province of B.C., “have known for decades the child welfare system was underfunded and broken beyond measure” but they failed to take steps to fix it.

She cited several reports, including a number over the years from B.C.’s children’s representative, that found that Indigenous children were “grossly overrepresented” in the child welfare system and in foster care.

And she said the problem isn’t improving, citing a report that showed Indigenous children were 13 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be in care in 2011, a rate that rose to almost 24 times more likely to be in care in 2021.

Bespflug told court the evidence documented in government reports show there is an “egregious overrepresentation of Métis, Inuit and off-reserve First Nation children in state care” in B.C.

She said there is a lack of preventive measures to stop the removal of Indigenous children from families and that the underfunded Indigenous child welfare system prioritizes removals over culturally appropriate measures that allow them to stay in their communities, she said.

Indigenous children in care face delays and denials in provision of essential health and social services, and governments failed “to act reasonably or at all to remedy the issues, content to treat class members as second-class citizens,” said Bespflug.

The plaintiffs will argue the class-action based on arguments under a number of federal and provincial laws, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Indian Act, and B.C.’s Child, Family and Community Services Act, the lawsuit said.

The province announced a new position called the Indigenous child welfare director in the spring, a position it says was long advocated for by First Nations leaders and is intended to reduce the over-representation of Indigenous children and youth in care.

The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said at the time it welcomed the new position as a step toward increased accountability and support for First Nations children.

And the government of Canada with Indigenous peoples, the provinces and territories passed the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis children, youth and families in 2020 to reduce the number of Indigenous children and youth in care and to improve child and family services, it said at the time.

The certification hearing is scheduled to continue until Friday.

slazaruk@postmedia.com