A BC man who claimed his mother had intentionally failed to put his Indigenous father’s name on his birth certificate has lost a legal challenge after suing her.

According to a May 28 BC Supreme Court decision, Kevan Jeffrey Sue accused his mother of falsifying government documentation by not naming his father on his birth certificate, which took away his right to be an Aboriginal Canadian.

The decision said Sue was born in 1989 and was only introduced to his father, Milton Williams, in the early 2000s.

It’s unclear when Sue decided he wanted Aboriginal status, but in 2011 to pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm and received a sentence of 18 months’ house arrest.

“One of the rights he believes he was wrongful deprived of was consideration of his Indigenous heritage at sentencing,” Justice Neena Sharma said in the decision.

In Canada, the courts have to take into consideration the historical circumstances of Indigenous offenders, known as Gladue factors, and Indigenous offenders can receive lighter sentences because of this.

Sue tried to get an extension of time to appeal his sentence, guilty plea and bail conditions after learning his dad was Indigenous, but had the file rejected.

The decision said the 36-year-old successfully got a court order for his father to give a DNA test, and eventually amended his birth certificate. He registered for Indian Status in 2022.

He still continued litigation against his mother, arguing that not putting his dad on his birth certificate negatively affected him.

“He accuses his mother of failing to provide adequate parental care. He also believes that he was denied access to Aboriginal status and related supports that he alleges could have mitigated or prevented further harm,” the decision reads. “Mr. Sue also asserts that the concealment of his father’s identity deprived him of emotional support, stability, and accommodations for his disability, contributed to his involvement in a crime, and had a material impact on bail sentencing and access to culturally sensitive diversion programs.”

However, Justice Sharma wasn’t sold.

The Justice said just because Sue’s mom introduced him to his father a decade after he was born, it doesn’t mean she knew who his father was when he was born.

“There are a number of reasonable possibilities as to why a woman may not know who the father of her child is at the time of the child’s birth, but gain that knowledge later. For that reason alone, I am not persuaded that it would be appropriate or reasonable to simply infer that (Sue’s mom) was being untruthful in writing at (the) time of the registration of Mr. Sue’s birth, that the father was unknown,” the Justice said.

The Justice said under the law at the time, there was no requirement for a mother, even if she knew who the father was, to acknowledge him.

Sue made numerous arguments about his mother being responsible for him not knowing who his father is, from her civil duty to disclose his identity to claiming gross negligence. He alleged his mom failed to apply for child support and claimed fraudulent representation.

However, the Justice dismissed all his arguments.

“I add that other than his mistaken assertion that he would have received a lesser sentence had he known earlier about his Indigenous heritage, he has not identified any specific program or benefit he would have been eligible for had he known who his father was earlier,” the Justice said.

Sue also listed BC Vital Statistics and the Ministry of Health in his suit, but again all the claims were dismissed.

Ultimately, the Justice dismissed his case.