A Superior Court ruling has determined a native teenager will be buried at the Emo cemetery despite a plea from his mother he be buried in his native community near Atikokan.
The 16-year-old boy, who died in February from a form of muscular dystrophy, had been a Crown ward prior to his death and had been living with a foster family in Emo for five years.
Lawyer Lydia Stam, who represents Rainy River District Family and Children’s Services, notes the organization is now preparing a burial according to native customs.
In Thunder Bay court last week, a judge ruled the boy’s dying wish to be buried in Emo showed how he regarded his foster parents and demonstrated his lack of connection to his birth mother.
