B.C. First Nations call on minister to resign over horrific child abuse case

Editor’s Note: This article contains details of child abuse that may be disturbing to come, discretion is advised

First Nations leadership is calling for B.C.’s Minister of Children and Family Development, Mitzi Dean, to resign, pointing to what it calls a lack of accountability following the 2021 death of an Indigenous child in foster care.

The call comes after a Chilliwack provincial court decision made earlier this month, in which a man and woman were sentenced to 10 years in prison after they pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault and manslaughter of a fostered First Nations boy, and the aggravated assault of his eight-year-old sister.

The name of the First Nation, the location, and the names of all parties involved were banned by the courts to protect the identity of the children involved in the case.

Court documents show the Ministry of Children and Family Development’s last visit to the Indigenous couple’s home took place seven months before the boy was beaten to death in 2021 by the woman, who is related to the children’s biological mother.

The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) says there has been an “ongoing lack of accountability” by the ministry in response to the case, and is calling for Dean’s resignation and for the province to work with First Nations to eradicate the mistreatment of Indigenous children in care.

Regional Chief Terry Teegee of the BC Assembly of First Nations said the abuse in this case was the “result of negligence and lack of systemic oversight.”

“I urge minister Dean to recognize this and resign immediately,” he said in the news release Monday.

“The ministry must conduct a thorough systematic review of its child protection and guardianship policies, practices, and procedures pertaining to First Nations children and youth, and all child protection cases and placements involving First Nations families.”

In a statement, Dean says she is “heartbroken” by what the children experienced and apologized for what Indigenous people have endured in the “broken child-welfare system.”

“My ministry is fully supportive of the representative for children and youth’s investigation. The ministry will support and participate in all efforts to bring the facts to light and will assist the representative in any way that she deems necessary. We will address all recommendations to improve the safety of children and youth in care,” she said, in part.

“Every young person in care must be able to trust the adults and caregivers in their lives to act with their best interests in mind, and to provide them with safety, care and support. Our focus is on protecting children and youth and ensuring their well-being.”

B.C. Premier David Eby also acknowledged the call for Dean’s resignation during an unrelated news conference on Monday, saying the impact of the case is being “profoundly felt.”

“This case has shaken all of us,” he said Monday.

“Minister Dean and myself are as horrified as the First Nations leadership about what happened with kids — as horrified as all British Columbians about what happened to these kids. She and her team are doing a full review and investigation from their side.”

B.C. Premier David Eby speaks during an announcement at the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, in North Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday, June 15, 2023. First Nations leaders in British Columbia are calling for the resignation of the children’s minister and an overhaul of the foster system after a horrific case involving torture, starvation and other abuse that culminated in the beating death of an 11-year-old boy. Eby told an unrelated news conference that the impact of the case is being “profoundly” felt. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Children were tortured, starved in foster care: court documents

In his ruling on June 16, Judge Peter La Prairie said the children were tortured, starved and forced to eat their own feces, vomit, and dog food. It adds they were forced to undertake excessive exercise routines for hours, often with their eyes taped shut, while in diapers or naked.

It says they were also subject to slapping, punching, kicking, and whipping, with much of the abuse captured by video cameras inside the home.

The boy died in February 2021 after sustaining a traumatic brain injury during a beating by the woman, documents say. His sister was later examined and found to have multiple abrasions and bruises all over her body and injuries to her wrists and ankles from zip ties.

Police executed a search warrant and found evidence including a 2×4 piece of wood the couple used to beat the children and 16,000 videos with about 400 hours of playing time, depicting months of abuse from 2020 to 2021.

“The level of violence depicted in the videos is incomprehensible,” La Prairie said in the ruling.

He noted the boy’s appearance in February 2021 was “particularly shocking.”

“It is inconceivable to understand how the abuse as depicted on the videos continued over a lengthy period of time, with the children in emaciated conditions and no one did anything,” he said. “These are issues that need to be addressed.”

-With files from Martin MacMahon