EDMONTON – The mother of two young boys under provincial care who were murdered by their father during an unsupervised weekend visit is suing the Alberta government for more than $1 million.
Andrea Lee Badger’s lawsuit alleges Child and Family Services “cause or contributed to” the deaths when they allowed the boys to stay with Jason Bruce Cardinal even though he had obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and anti-social personality disorder with sociopathic tendencies.
Cardinal should only have been allowed supervised visits with his family, says the statement of claim. Child and Family Services had a duty to monitor and investigate Cardinal’s mental state which necessitated he take daily medications, the lawsuit says.
The province “failed to take the necessary steps that were reasonable under the circumstances to prevent the wrongful deaths” of the children and keep them safe, the lawsuit says.
In November, the 33-year-old Cardinal pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of his sons, who were three and six years old.
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On the night of Dec. 19, 2010, Cardinal injected the boys with morphine and then strangled them as they slept. Police found the dead boys in bed with their father. One had a towel wrapped around his neck and the other a pillowcase. Cardinal had attempted suicide by slashing at his arms with a box-cutter, but recovered.
Police entered Cardinal’s home after Badger could not reach him for hours on the day she was scheduled to pick up the boys, less than a week.
Cardinal’s trial heard that he was worried he would lose custody of his children the day he killed them. While still in hospital, Cardinal told police that what happened to his sons was the “right thing.” He could not live if his boys were taken away from him and they were now safe, he said.
Cardinal and Badger met in 2001 and were living as a common-law couple by 2002. By 2008, they had two sons and Badger had given primary custody to Cardinal so she could work in northern Alberta.
On February 22, 2010, the two boys were apprehended from Cardinal and placed in Badger’s care. Five weeks later, Cardinal was permitted to have weekly, supervised visits with the boys at Badger’s home in Bonnyville.
In August 2010, Cardinal was granted unsupervised visits despite the objections of Badger, who thought the visits should remain supervised by the province because of “his various medical conditions and his improper treatment of the children.”
Badger and Cardinal were in the middle of hearings to further address his access to the boys when they were killed.
A provincial fatality inquiry will be held into the two deaths, but it has not yet been scheduled.
Badger is asking for $1,030,000 in damages.
A statement of defence has not been filed.
Statements of claim contain allegations that have not been proven in court.
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