VANCOUVER — A British Columbia foster family has lost its fight in the province's highest court to keep a Metis toddler they have raised since birth.
The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed two appeals launched by the Vancouver Island couple to adopt the little girl in a case that pitted the importance of indigenous heritage against that of blood relatives.
The Ministry of Children and Family Development wants to move the girl to Ontario to live with her two biological siblings, who she has never met, and their adoptive parents.
The B.C. foster mom is Metis while the adoptive parents in Ontario are not, and the foster family had argued the girl's aboriginal background should take precedence.
A five-member panel of appeal court judges has ruled there was no basis for either of the appeals, in part because the ministry retains sole guardianship of foster children and has the authority to determine their best interests.
Throughout the court battle, the girl has remained in the care of her foster parents, who cannot be named to protect the child's identity.
