B.C. Green leader challenges NDP government over foster care lawsuit

B.C. Green leader Sonia Furstenau called out the NDP government again Thursday for fighting claims by kids in foster care, a population disproportionately Indigenous.

“How can the government be committed to reconciliation, while actively fighting against justice for children that have survived the child welfare system?” she said during Thursday’s question period.

The claims are set out in a class action lawsuit that alleges for more than five decades the province failed to ensure children in its care received benefits, such as counselling and money for pain and suffering, which they were entitled to after being the victims of crime.

The province has appealed the class action lawsuit and again declined to comment on it.

“The matter is before the courts so it is not possible for me to speak to the particular matter that she mentions,” responded Mitzi Dean, the Minister of Children and Family Development, during question period.

But another of the representative plaintiffs in the case, identified by her first name, Miranda, came forward publicly Thursday, describing the impact of a sexual assault she suffered when she was 14 years old, just before going into foster care 23 years ago.

“If I would have received counselling back around the time when it happened, I probably still wouldn't feel his hands on my skin,” she said, referring to the ongoing trauma she experiences.

The man who abused her was convicted of the crime more than 20 years ago, but she didn’t get the counselling she was entitled to for years, despite seeking help.

“As a teenager, I actively searched out counselling and was denied, because I couldn't pay for it,” she said Thursday.