By Madeline Baker, Times Chronicle
The Okanagan Nation Alliance Chief’s Executive Council (ONA CEC) has issued a statement demanding a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Robert R. Saunders’ theft of nearly $500,000 from youth in foster care during his time with the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD).
Saunders, who became a social worker with the MCFD using falsified credentials, pled guilty to charges of fraud, breach of trust, and forgery on July 25. These charges stemmed from allegations that Saunders spent over a decade defrauding youth in his care of food, clothing, services, and shelter allowances.
ONA CEC has now stated that “MCFD workers, team leads, and managers refused to listen to numerous complaints regarding Saunders’ conduct by his own clients, Indigenous band workers and community members,” which they say led to a “breeding ground” for Saunders’ corruption.
Their statement points to multiple oversight failures identified in official court documents, including a lack of supervision in the remaining chain of command that stretched all the way to Victoria.
Those same court documents also say that the director under which Saunders worked at the time “was aware of previous instances of Saunders’ misconduct but failed to implement adequate supervision and controls that would have detected Saunders’ misconduct in a timely fashion … [which] has resulted in harm to the many Indigenous youth and their families.”
In response to this, Syilx Okanagan Nation Chiefs’ Executive have signed Tribal Council Resolution (TRC) 491, which supports Council in their demand for a public inquiry into the practices, actions, and policies that allowed for Saunders’ behaviour to go unchecked.
The ONA also point to their Family Declaration, axá iʔ sccuntət iʔ tl x̌aʔxitət x̌l iʔ nqsil̓tət, which declares their “inherent right … to say what governs us, for what are the best interests, the good health, and the well-being of our children and people.”
At time of publishing, there has been no public response from the MCFD. The ministry has made pledges in the past to work with First Nations to address the epidemic of Indigenous children in care, including an open letter written by Minister of Children and Families Mitzi Dean in 2021.
