Lawsuit: Province of British Columbia

“A former foster child is suing the province of British Columbia, alleging the Ministry of Children and Family Development [MCFD] failed to protect her when criminals sexually exploited her, coerced her to use street drugs and forced her into a “prostitution ring” in Prince George.

The civil claim was filed on April 18, 2023, in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Prince George.

The claims have not been proven in court, and no statement of defence to the claim has yet been filed.

The lawsuit paints a grim picture of a vulnerable girl’s alleged sexual exploitation while under ministry care more than 20 years ago.

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The girl was taken into foster care in Prince George at the age of 13, according to the lawsuit.

In 1999, the document claims the MCFD moved her from a group home for teenagers and placed her in a women’s shelter in Prince George for adult women fleeing violence.

The girl was 15 years old at the time and alleges the ministry knew there was no adult supervision of teenagers at the shelter.

While living there, the lawsuit alleges the girl was introduced to people “who operated a prostitution enterprise” out of a house in Prince George’s inner city in a “violent and criminal environment.”

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“The criminals, through a combination of … drugs, alcohol, and various means of coercion, violence and threats, forced the Plaintiff into a life of prostitution and drug use.”

Child’s complaints ignored, lawsuit says

According to the lawsuit, the girl complained to ministry staff ‘on multiple occasions” that she had been “forced or coerced into prostitution and become dependent on various street drugs” and asked staff to remove her from the house.

It states ministry employees “neglected or failed to assist her, even though they were told the girl “had been sexually used and assaulted.”

It says the people running the house were eventually charged and convicted of numerous criminal offences, including “living off the avails of prostitution.”

The girl stopped attending school and fell into a “devastating life of addiction, violence and prostitution” for more than five years.

The lawsuit states that after serving time in jail in her early 20s, she stopped using alcohol and drugs.

She is now working in the social services field.

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It says the plaintiff has suffered numerous harms and injuries, including suicide attempts, post-traumatic stress disorder, nightmares, self-mutilation, eating disorders and alienation from family, friends, and community.

CBC News is not using the name of the woman who filed the lawsuit because she is the victim of an alleged sexual assault. ”

Vulnerable foster child forced into ‘prostitution ring’ and drug use, lawsuit alleges

[CBC 4/24/23 by Betsy Trumpener]

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