Lawsuits have been filed on behalf of two youth in British Columbia Supreme Court alleging a provincial social worker siphoned off thousands of dollars in financial benefits from children in care.

Both actions name social worker Robert Riley Saunders, the Ministry of Children and Family Development and Interior Savings Financial Services Ltd., alleging the Indigenous children were removed from a stable environment to an unstable living arrangement so that their benefits could be stolen from them.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Vancouver is a proposed class-action, alleging there were other children in care whom Saunders misappropriated funds or benefits or failed to provide adequate support, care of guardianship. The second lawsuit was filed in Kelowna on behalf of a youth who The Canadian Press is not naming.

None of the allegations has been proven in court and no statements of defence have been filed.

Saunders couldnsa国际传媒檛 be reached for comment, while the Childrensa国际传媒檚 Ministry said in a statement it had no comment as the matter was before the court.

Corinne Johnson, manager of community engagement at Interior Savings, says in a statement that the institution takes its fiduciary responsibilities seriously.

sa国际传媒淏ecause of privacy rules, we cannot speak to the specifics of any case. We are aware of this ongoing investigation and we are continuing to co-operate with authorities.sa国际传媒�

Jason Gratl, the lawyer for the Vancouver plaintiff, only identified as R.O., alleges Saunders took funds meant for his clientsa国际传媒檚 food, clothing and shelter.

sa国际传媒淢any of them were made homeless and destitute,sa国际传媒� Gratl says in an interview.

Related:

Related:

The lawsuits say Saunders sa国际传媒漞ngaged in the same and similar unlawful and inexcusable activities in respect of dozens of other children in his care, most of whom are Aboriginal children.sa国际传媒�

Gratl alleges that as much as $40,000 each was taken from children between the ages of 15 and 19 and that the fraud had been going on for a minimum of four years.

sa国际传媒淚 donsa国际传媒檛 know what year it began in,sa国际传媒� he says in the interview. sa国际传媒淲e just donsa国际传媒檛 know how deep this problem goes.sa国际传媒�

The statements of claim allege that in early 2016, Saunders moved the children in order to make them eligible for financial benefits from the ministry and he opened joint bank accounts for each youth.

sa国际传媒淪aunders stole the funds deposited by the ministry into joint bank accounts by moving them to his own individual account at Interior Savings and by paying his personal expenses by electronic transfer from the joint bank account,sa国际传媒� the statements say.

They allege Saunders was aware of the youthssa国际传媒� vulnerability and aware that he exercises parental control over them.

sa国际传媒淪aunders failed to ensure the plaintiff received adequate care and support, and failed to provide for the plaintiffsa国际传媒檚 for the basic needs,sa国际传媒� the statements say.

The lawsuits say that Saunders exercised complete control over every aspects of the plaintiffssa国际传媒� lives, including where they would live, access to family members, their cultural heritage, services and financial help.

The director of child welfare did not review Saunderssa国际传媒� files to check if he was carrying out his duties appropriately, the statements say.

sa国际传媒淭he director failed to implement adequate systems, restraints and controls to detect and prevent Saunderssa国际传媒� misappropriation of funds and benefits,sa国际传媒� say the statements of claim.

The ministry didnsa国际传媒檛 have the systems to detect and prevent Saunders from taking the funds and once the misconduct was detected, the government failed to move quickly to restrain the man, the lawsuits say.

Interior Savings helped Saunders by having the children sign forms opening joint accounts but didnsa国际传媒檛 tell them that the accounts were with Saunders, the statements of claim allege.

sa国际传媒淏ecause of his repeated transactions with Interior Savingssa国际传媒� employees, Interior Savings knew that Saunders was a government employee with a fixed salary and that the funds entering into his personal account were irregular and that his transactions patterns were irregular,sa国际传媒� the statement says.

The lawsuits donsa国际传媒檛 specify a dollar figure, but ask for aggravated and punitive damages, the tracing of all funds taken and costs.

In order for the lawsuit in Vancouver to go ahead as a class-action proceeding it must first be certified by a judge.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press

Like us on and follow us on .