VICTORIA (CP) -- The B.C. government has so far failed to clearly acknowledge it was wrong in the way Sons of Freedom Doukhobor children were apprehended and confined several decades ago in an institution in New Denver, the province's ombudsman said Monday.
Howard Kushner, the B.C. ombudsman, reached the conclusion in a "progress report" that followed the 1999 public report called Righting the Wrong: The Confinement of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobor Children.
The 1999 report arose from allegations, the ombudsman said, by the Sons of Freedom children that they had been mistreated.
They alleged they had been removed from their families and suffered loss of love, dignity, self-respect, and loss of civil liberties.
Some claimed they had been physically and psychologically mistreated. The ombudsman concluded in the 1999 report that the complaints were substantiated.
After the report, the ombudsman said it was fair to give the government time to respond to the report and its five recommendations, including the first one that said it should provide a "clear acknowledgement that it was wrong in the way it took and confined the children."
The ombudsman said the government was making progress on the other four 1999 recommendations.
About 150 children of members of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobor sect were incarcerated in New Denver, in southeastern B.C., some for six years, and forced to abandon their Russian language and culture.
Last year, about 50 of them also filed a lawsuit against the B.C. government seeking an apology, counselling and compensation.
The Sons of Freedom is a traditionalist sect of Doukhobor followers who came to Canada from Russia at the turn of the century.
They became known for their use of nudity and arson as forms of protest. Sons of Freedom followers shed their clothes and burn buildings as signs of their abhorrence of material goods.
The sect now makes up a tiny segment of the Doukhobor community in British Columbia. Most former members now belong either to the Orthodox group, centred in Grand Forks, or a smaller Reformed group at Krestova.
Then ombudsman Dulcie McCallum found 150 children were subjected to physical and psychological mistreatment after they were placed in the former tuberculosis sanitorium at New Denver.
The ombudsman called on the province to apologize publicly, provide counselling and pay compensation.
The apprehension and confinement of the Sons of Freedom children occurred between 1953 to 1959.
Another recommendation called for the government to provide a full explanation for why they were apprehended and confined.
The ombudsman said the recommendation has been "partially implemented."
He said the government has tried to provide an explanation and has paid for meetings of the former residents to allow them to discuss the ombudsman's recommendations.
Contrary to another recommendation, the government has not yet apologized, but has so far expressed regret "for what happened to you and your families."
Another recommendation -- to refer the report to the RCMP -- has been done, the ombudsman said.
Kushner, who said his report is separate, from the lawsuit, expressed satisfaction with the government's actions so far.
"I am pleased with the efforts undertaken by government officials to explore creative means of addressing the outstanding recommendations," he said.