Province admits harm in multimillion dollar agreement with victims of B.C. social worker – CBC

Proposed class action settlement would cover 102 victims of Robert Riley Saunders

Jul 15, 2020

B.C.’s Ministry of Children and Family Development has reached a proposed multimillion dollar settlement agreement with more than 100 alleged victims of a Kelowna social worker accused of stealing from some of the province’s most vulnerable foster children.

According to documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court Tuesday, the ministry has identified 102 possible victims — including 85 Indigenous youth — overseen by Robert Riley Saunders during his time in a guardianship role from April 2001 until he was fired in 2018.

In more than a dozen lawsuits filed in the lead-up to the agreement, former clients have accused Saunders of moving them from stable, loving homes into independent living situations and then using joint bank accounts to take money provided by the ministry for their care.

Many claim they were left homeless as a result, subject to physical and sexual abuse and plunged into desperate lives of addiction and pain.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/robert-riley-saunders-settlement-1.5650064