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VANCOUVER - A British Columbia father and son are suing the Anglican Church of Canada, alleging the son was conceived as a result of sexual abuse by a female employee of St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Alert Bay in the late 1960s. 

The lawsuit says the father was 14 years old when he was sexually assaulted by a school supervisor in 1968, and he settled a lawsuit with the church in 2008.

The school on Cormorant Island, northeast of Vancouver Island, began taking in Indigenous children in 1929 until it closed in 1974 under license from the ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥ government, the lawsuit says. 

Court documents filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court say the plaintiffs only recently found out they were related, leading to a "traumatic reunion," and their relationship has been confirmed by DNA testing. 

The notice of civil claim says the father, now 72, "had no idea" he had a son that was given up by the woman to a non-Indigenous family months after his birth, and the son, now 56, was traumatized by the "shocking revelation" he was a child conceived through the rape of his biological father.

The lawsuit says the plaintiffs contacted the church this year about compensation, but were allegedly told the church considered itself "completely absolved" of liability due to settlement of the father's earlier legal action. 

The allegations have not been proven in court and the Anglican Church of Canada has not filed a response to the lawsuit.

Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee with the Anglican Diocese of Islands and Inlets said in a statement that the church could not comment on the case, but "we acknowledge the harm done to generations of children and families at St Michael’s." 

The civil claim says the plaintiffs were "left with no choice" but to sue the church for damages in order to "seek closure and healing from these traumatic events."

The father, the lawsuit says, "had no idea that he had fathered a son, who was taken away from him, his own family, his own community and his heritage" 

The loss of his son added to the looming "psychological trauma" from his time at the school, the lawsuit says, and meeting him "also re-opened his trauma from the sexual assault at St. Mike's and created further complex personal and psychological harms, all flowing from St. Mikes." 

The son says that after he met his biological father, he "came to understand the real circumstances of his birth and that he was a child born from the rape of his father and that his mother was the perpetrator." 

The lawsuit says the son being placed with a non-Indigenous family meant he didn't know he could register for status under the Indian Act and was "unable to gain significant" benefits, including tax exemptions. 

It says he's now applied for status and membership in the Weiwaikum Indian Band, having lost out on housing, health, education and member payments until he found out about his biological father. 

The son, the lawsuit says, "has also lost the chance to learn his language and his culture." 

"This is a significant personal loss he has suffered," the claim says. 

The plaintiffs' lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Named defendants in the lawsuit include General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, which is the governing body of the Anglican Church of Canada, as well as the Anglican Diocese of B.C., and the Attorney General of Canada, on behalf of His Majesty the King in Right of Canada. 

This report by ´ºÉ«Ö±²¥was first published July 10, 2025.