B.C. challenging class-action lawsuit involving potentially tens of thousands of youth in foster care
CTV
The lawsuit alleges that the province failed to protect the interests of thousands of vulnerable children in its care over 50 years, dating back to the 1970s.
She was shuttled in and out of foster care, and experienced traumas throughout her youth, including being the victim of sexual abuse by another youth in foster care.
“My earliest memories are of rape and molestation as early as four and five,” she recounted to CTV News. “I experienced physical, sexual and emotional abuse by several family members at various ages.”
CTV News agreed to conceal her identity to protect her privacy, but she’s speaking out in frustration at the provincial government.
The lawsuit in which she’s the representative plaintiff alleges that the province failed to protect the interests of thousands of vulnerable children in its care over 50 years, dating back to the 1970s.
Rajinder Sahota is a Victoria lawyer acting on behalf of the plaintiffs. Sahota describes the allegations as “a failure to advocate for children to ensure they received benefits, like counselling, amongst others, and compensation for being the victims of crime.”
Victims-of-crime legislation entitles people who've been hurt by a crime to apply for benefits. This lawsuit alleges that in many cases the government, which had assumed responsibility for those kids in its care, never alerted them to their legal rights, such as access to therapy, as well as modest compensation for pain and suffering.
“They failed to apply for benefits and compensation for children who had been victims of crime,” says Sahota.
The representative plaintiff is 35 years old now and only found out about the benefits a few years ago.
