B.C. ministry to expand Metis commission’s role amid high-profile toddler case
VANCOUVER — British Columbia will expand the role of its Metis representative in the child welfare system, amid criticism of the province’s plan to adopt a Metis toddler to non-aboriginal parents in Ontario.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Children and Family Development said Monday that it will work with the Metis Commission for Children and Families of B.C. to give it more responsibilities in all adoptions involving Metis children.
The commission is the designated voice for Metis children, youth and families in B.C.’s child protection system, and sits on an “exceptions committee” that makes decisions about when to place aboriginal children in non-aboriginal homes.
In that role, the commission supported the ministry’s plan to remove the girl from her Metis foster mother and move her to Ontario to live with her older sisters and their adoptive parents, whom she has never met.