Daughter guilty of defrauding residential school survivor mother of $150K settlement

CTV’s Nick Paparella with a decision in the Ursula Doxtator case, an Oneida of the Thames councillor charged with defrauding her own mother.

It’s a shocking case of betrayal after a daughter defrauded her own mother, a residential school survivor, out of her government settlement cheque.

After a trial last spring, Justice Kevin McHugh found Ursula Doxtator, a former Oneida Nation of the Thames Band councillor, guilty of fraud over $5,000 and forgery, after she deposited a $150,000 cheque made out to her mother Caroline, into her own bank account in July 2023.

Within six weeks, most of the money had disappeared leaving only a few hundred dollars left in the bank.

At the time, Doxtator was the power of attorney for her mother who now lives in the United States, but the judge found she had no right to defraud her elderly mother who was of sound state of mind.

McHugh said, “The complainant knew nothing about the $150,000 cheque that had arrived... The accused utilized the funds for her own benefit.”

To make matter worse, court heard that Doxtator told her mother she would only be receiving a settlement cheque of $50,000, which was one third of the amount from the government, with the judge saying, “She misled her mother about the funds.. the complainant had no idea of how much money was received.”

McHugh went on to say, “The defendant engaged in deceit which lead to a corresponding deprivation by the complainant of the said funds which were rightfully hers.”

The cheque in question was one of thousands issued by the Canadian government after a class action lawsuit filed by residential school survivors.

A sentencing hearing for Ursula Doxtator is now set for April 14.