R.R. v. Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society, 2025 BCCA 151

Protecting children and upholding human rights are not mutually exclusive

In this significant and precedent-setting decision, the BC Court of Appeal upheld a $150,000 award to an Afro-Indigenous mother, RR, who was wrongfully separated from her children and subjected to discrimination within the child welfare system.

The Court confirmed that state intervention in child welfare must be free from discrimination, and that individuals harmed by discriminatory conduct have the right to seek redress through the BC Human Rights Tribunal.

About the Case

RR was separated from her four children in 2016, when they were taken into care. Over the course of nearly three years, her access to them was severely limited. The BC Human Rights Tribunal found that decisions made about RR were influenced by discriminatory stereotypes and assumptions. In 2022, the Tribunal awarded RR $150,000 for the harm she experienced. That award has now been upheld in full.

RR is a racialized Afro-Indigenous woman and a single mother. She is an intergenerational survivor of residential schools with disabilities stemming from trauma. She is also a leader in her community and a passionate advocate for justice. Despite the immense barriers she faced, she has shown extraordinary strength and perseverance throughout this process.

By inserting itself into the intimate relationship between parent and child, the state takes on the responsibility of doing so without discrimination. Racial or other stereotypes have no place in decisions to intervene. Relying on stereotypes in such decisions, far from being in the best interests of the child, is in the best interests of no one. If our shared history has taught us anything, it has taught us this.

Chief Justice Marchand writing on behalf of the Court of Appeal in R.R. v. Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society, 2025 BCCA 151

CASE UPDATES
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CASE UPDATES

Case Updates

November 25, 2025: The Supreme Court of Canada denied the Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society (the “Society”)’s application for leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision.

May 8, 2025: The Court of Appeal ruled in R.R.’s favour, holding that the BC Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) had jurisdiction to hear the complaint and there was no operational conflict between child protection legislation and the Human Rights Code. The Court of Appeal restored the Tribunal’s decision, finding it was made using a fair process and there was no basis to interfere with it.

Read the Court of Appeal’s decision.

February 16, 2024: CLAS filed an appeal of R.R.’s behalf, seeking to restore the Tribunal’s decision. The Society cross-appealed in response, arguing that the R.R.’s complaint should have been dismissed because the Tribunal did not have jurisdiction to decide it.

January 22, 2024: The BC Supreme Court set aside the Tribunal’s decision, finding that the legal framework it applied to R.R.’s discrimination complaint was inconsistent with child protection legislation.

Read the BC Supreme Court’s decision.

November 22, 2022: After 21 days of hearing, the Tribunal found that the Society had discriminated against R.R. because its decisions to retain custody and restrict R.R.’s access to her children were informed by stereotypes. The Tribunal found that the Society’s actions could not be justified as reasonably necessary to protect R.R.’s children. The Tribunal ordered the Society to pay R.R. $150,000 as compensation for injury to her dignity, feelings, and self-respect, which was at the time the second highest such award ever made in British Columbia.

Read the BC Human Rights Tribunal’s decision.