Just three weeks after obtaining an order in BC Supreme Court to allow a young indigenous mother sufficient access to her newborn to allow for breastfeeding and to foster a maternal bond, Ratcliff lawyer Melinda Skeels, was back in court on the matter, where the Director of Children and Family Development was seeking to reduce access for the mother.

Bernard Richard, B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth, calls the situation “egregious and awful” and based on a racist, paternalistic approach to child welfare.