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A First Nations woman is suing Manitoba child and family services (CFS) agencies after three of her children were apprehended by CFS in 2007 after an alleged instance of abuse by their father. Her children were taken away suddenly, according to the lawsuit; she was breastfeeding her youngest son when he was taken from her arms by CFS. She left her children’s father immediately, she said, and did everything she could to get her children back.
The plaintiff spent over a decade trying to regain custody of her children.
The woman waging the Manitoba CFS lawsuit is a member of a Manitoba First Nation and currently lives in Ontario. She is seeking $5 million in damages, $1 million in punitive damages and $1 million in aggravated damages. The same amounts are claimed for two of her children.
According to the Manitoba CFS lawsuit “the obstruction, intransigence, discrimination, and bad faith” of the defendants caused the plaintiff’s children to lose their family as well as each other for the majority of their childhood, and “to suffer extreme emotional, physical and psychological harm.”
“I have done absolutely everything within the system to get my children back and it hasn’t worked… My boys repeatedly say that they want to come home,” she said in an interview with the CBC back in 2017. “The CFS agency and the Manitoba advocates have failed my children and my family.”
CBC News reports that the mother was never alleged to have engaged in abusive behaviour toward her children, and did not suffer from mental health disorders nor substance abuse. Nevertheless, the CFS agencies stigmatized her as “unfit”, the claim says. Unfortunately, Canada has a history of stigmatization and discrimination against First Nations families by CFS, and this lawsuit is not the first of its kind.
Not the First Time
Earlier this year, the Assembly of First Nations filed a $10 billion class action lawsuit accusing the Canadian government of underfunding the First Nations child welfare system in the Yukon and on reserves, claiming that Canada’s child welfare system discriminated against First Nations children.
The class action lawsuit highlights Canada’s systemic discrimination of First Nations communities, through discriminatory funding that incentivized the removal of First Nations children from their families, leading to eventual abuse.
“Year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation, the Crown has systematically discriminated against First Nation Children because of their race, nationality and ethnicity and created a Removed Child Class,” according to the complaint.
Abuse in Foster Homes
The Manitoba agencies named as defendants in the abuse lawsuit include the All Nations Coordinated Response Network (ANCR), Winnipeg Child and Family Services, West Region Child and Family Services and the CFS authority Southern First Nations Network of Care. The lawsuit also names the governments of Manitoba and Canada as defendants, as well as two foster parents and two other individuals ostensibly identified by CFS as posing a risk to children.
According to the Manitoba CFS lawsuit, two of the boys were sexually and physically abused while living in foster homes. Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that the boys were not placed in Indigenous foster homes while in CFS care, besides for a period of under a year for one of the boys.
“Not only has the breakup of the family unit inflicted significant mental suffering on the plaintiffs,” the lawsuit says, but the two boys “suffered abuse within Manitoba’s foster care system and were disconnected from their Anishinaabe identities, heritage, culture, language, and community, as well as their extended family.”
Echoing the survivors of Canada’s federal Indian Day Schools, they were “denied access to their culture, language, history, community, extended family, and to each other and their brother,” during their 10 years in CFS care.
Long History of Abuse
Beginning the 1920’s, the federal government established and operated 699 Indian Day Schools. It is estimated that close to 200,000 First Nations, Inuit, Métis and non-status Indian children attended a federally operated Indian Day School. Many Indigenous children across Canada were required to attend the schools.
Countless survivors who attended these schools experienced trauma and physical and sexual abuse. Additionally, students had their languages, cultures and traditions “actively denigrated” by administrators of the schools.
A class action lawsuit was filed in 2009 against the Canadian government, and on March 12, 2019, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister and representative plaintiffs announced a proposed settlement agreement.
The Federal Court approved the settlement agreement on August 19, 2019.
What do you think about the CFS lawsuit? Have you experienced discrimination by the Government of Canada based on your race? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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11 thoughts onManitoba Child and Family Services Facing Abuse Lawsuit
The same thing has happened to me, CFS apprehended my 4 children in 2016. I had just finished chemotherapy and 2mths later they took my children. Base on false accusations, saying that my youngest father hit me. He was charged for it and charges were disposed of after futher investigation. CFS then stated that my youngest father was selling drugs out of our window and that I consented to it. There is noway that I would consent to that around my children, as well at the time I was sick in bed with cancer and going through chemotherapy. They then said that I was lying and I knew about. And still to this day I am fighting to get my children back. I have 2 jobs, a beautiful home, and am healthy. My children and i have gone through alot of depression and counseling due to this separation. Finally after almost 8yrs I have unsupervised visits with my 2 oldests and overnights with my oldest. 8 yrs i been fighting and have not giving up. Despite all the attempts of CFS to break myself and my children they never broke our bond. Despite me ending up involved with drugs and crime and jail time due to the separation from my children I have not guving up. I have come along way. My children are my world. The trauma that my children has gone through, the trauma I have gone through after being separated from each other (due to false accusations) is unexceptable and CFS should be held accountable.
The same is happening to me. The worker made it impossible to see my children . They made up a unfounded and refused to investigate to find that my daughter was not hit a single time in 20 min I was not home. The father of my oldest daughter and best friend for over 25 years I laughed at first at the accusation I over and over said it did not happen . Witnesses to the time period of 20 min I was not there to also say no such thing took place. Going on a year I can not get them back they do not inform at all and bounce them around. No injuries no proof I was literally told by worker it’s not her job to explain anything to me. They have made up fake reasons to undergo drug use tests and perfessional counciling because my husband died even tho me say of course I’m sad things are hard is the only thing they used to prolong my separation and my daughter’s and me suffer immensely. I thought I was alone . I have nearly given up so many times because it has emotionally destroyed my belief in myself and hopeless to fight people who don’t give me any answers as to why they cut them off also from people they originally approved to spend time with them because they knew me. I’m guessing so that there are no witnesses for me to prove nothing happened. Refusing my daughter to ever speak to me herself because I know this accusation has been false from beginning. Worker had advised me at one point to claim false domestic abuse to get funding and I refused and she forced it on me picking the wrong person to accuse because I was never going to destroy someone else’s life with an accusation of harming a child one we both love and never touch for any reason. This made her more aliment to make co.ply by any means necessary and keep them from comming home when in no way should they have ever left.
Update* I finally got my girls back. When I was able to ask her with out any pressure ( asked in a way to just tell me what happened from her experience with many people during her apprehension) she told me about that specific reason she never said what the worker stated she had said. ) I’ve always known this in my gut and want to take her to a legal counseling profession to take her statement. I lost this time with them so she could try to wait till my daughter would forget but I can’t find someone to be our advocate. There are so many discrepancies in this workers job performance it’s unbelievable. I’ve documented everything I can if any lawyer will help . Please I beg you that she never dose this again to another mother.
I plead a legal representative. I have email and text and messenger evidence. I have a witness while she lives that is a respected community member that can testify that the worker started off by trying to get me to make false abuse claims . And action she took immediately afterwards depriving my girls of having a stuffed animal that is literally in their mandate . And so much more. After my husband died from cancer I went to them for respite of my own will. I was denied any help despite their promises to do so for months by then it was just to late . I did everything I could and volunteered to stop the exact situation from happening only to have asking for help back fire. If one lawyer just looks at all the evidence. Plus I am now being asked to sign a document that a supervisor herself told me wasn’t even legal to begin with and neither lawyer knew because it’s outside provincial. I don’t want to sign it because I never agreed to it in the first place and my own legal aid lawyer threatened that my representation 2 days before court could be revoked if I didn’t sign. I documented everything. Please help
My boys where apprehended by winkler cfs becuase i told the supervisor ashligh klatt to “do her job” well she did . They have weaponized my children to make me do want they want. they have inflicted so much trauma on my children and my spouse just becuase they dont like me. I have been, forced into unemployment and made to live off welfare becuase i have to be at there beckoncal the second i cannot comply they punish my whole by taking visits etc. it took me three months and finally got an investigation by the general authority so much stress in that i lost a job it became my whole existence just to try and get my voice heard, lost friends and supports. the outcome of all that was twenty minute phone call from GA to the women i wanted investigated then case closed. Wow. After a year to get a trial there attorney could not believe how badly they messed this up, they where basically had nothing. My past a bunch of name calling he then made them hire a specialist,very expensive to come in and are forcing the agency to work towards reunification.These people are not governed or policed by anyone!!!!!!!! People have no recourse in these situations. This is an industry that exploits families and charges the manitoba tax payer a billion dollars a year to do it. Kids for profit. I want to start a sight solely for the purpose of making changes to this system if anyone has ideas or stories please email me nextlevelhardscaping@gmail.com not to mention out right lied in court documents and to our community to get what they want please help me stop this
I was in foster care when I was 3 until 15, I experienced mental, and physical abuse from my foster mom. She would put me in cold showers for long periods of time, one time she punched me, stabbed me in the hand with a pencil, called me every name under the book, made me feel worthless, and I wanted to kill myself. The days my worker would come to visit she would be nice, and I would except that because all I wanted was love from her. She called her self a “Christian” or godly person. But who treats a child that way? She was white to, and I never knew I had a voice. Youth need to know they have a voice. And she kept us isolated to, denied us access to recreation, and friends . I could keep going on..
I was in foster care with west region and was abused by two adults named Terrence L and Anita L. Sexually mentally and physical abuse, and death threats, i lived almost 5 years of abuse, i never got justice, i was left mentally damaged and emotionally scarred. I was in kindergarden when i first started getting abused by them. They are parents too Brigette L, a canadian olympic medalist who also held a knofe to my throat. Im not here to make them look bad but to spread some truth in hopes of justice. I asked my parent why did they go free and have no consequences and they had no answer, i hope that justice will come for all the other children who suffered abused in bad foster homes. Terrence and Anita werent my first abusers in foster care but they sure made the others look nice.
My boys were aprehended from there faher, and when that happened went to treatment, asked for my boys to be placed in a native run CFS,was denied that to happen ,my bys were seperated, abused,shamed, and so on so forth they had family that wanted to take them, the hous too small, finally when i wasn given custody ,they would cancell visits telling my boys t was me who cancelled not true, they lived in fear and pain,and grew to believe they werent wanted or loved,no amount of money can make up for this . were struggling to be a family now because there was so much non truths put in there minds. CFs needs to be accountable, my one son ended up living in his car while going to school. breaks my heart.
I have been facing a similar situation. My children were apprehended unjustly by Winnipeg CFS based on their “suspicion of drug use” and their suspicion of a “undiagnosed mental illness ” I have provided the agency with over 20 urine drug screens and multiple hair follicle drug test as well as a psychiatrist assessment and they STILL refuse to admit the made a mistake. A class action is necessary in helping the families who have been wronged.
My brother and his children have been facing the same fate. He has tried everything to get them back to no avail. Because of Covid, I was not able to go there to help. This treatment has affected him and his children tremendously to the point he wanted to end his life. He has an amazing story of injustice and predjudism that has gone on for years with Manitoba Child and Family Services. Some of the problem that I have been frustrated with is the constant change of workers which allows for miscommunication and improper actions…cases fall through the cracks. This has to stop! They need to help families so they can thrive together and the community itself will be better.
Hi,
I was foster care until I was 19 because they convinced me it was the thing to do, and they would help me financially. I never even received so much as a penny.