Pressure mounts on B.C. to resolve class-action suit involving thousands of youth in foster care
CTV
As a lawsuit involving potentially tens of thousands of current and former kids in foster care languishes in the courts, it's gaining traction in the B.C. legislature, where pressure is mounting on the government to resolve the dispute.
B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau described the government's handling of the matter as hypocritical on Thursday.
“This is an important moment for this government to demonstrate that it is serious about redressing the harms of the child welfare system, particularly for Indigenous children,” she said.
The class action alleges that the government failed to seek benefits, such as counselling, that kids in its care for the past 50 years were entitled to after they'd been victims of crime.
The province is challenging whether the class action should go ahead.
Karen Snowshoe is a lawyer, mediator and adjudicator. She also happens to be a potential plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit, as she is a survivor of abuse while ion foster care.
“If I also could have had early counselling, which I didn’t have, it would have affected my life in a huge, huge way,” said Snowshoe on Thursday.
Snowshoe is an expert in conducting trauma-informed and culturally sensitive investigations.
She was a senior counsel with the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirited People, and has resolved over 34,000 claims of abuse from residential school survivors across Canada.
