Warning: This story deals with teen suicide and contains details that may be distressing to some readers.
The Surrey school district and Fraser Health Authority are denying allegations including negligence, bad faith, concealment and systemic discrimination in connection with the December 2023 death by suicide of South Surrey teen Felicity Donovan.
According to court documents filed Nov. 26 and 27, 2025 in B.C. Supreme Court – in response to a civil claim filed earlier in the month by Felicity’s father, David – Surrey Schools and an Elgin Park Secondary counsellor deny “each and every allegation … unless expressly admitted” made in connection with her death, while Fraser Health Authority contends the programs accessed for Felicity “provided care, treatment and counselling services with reasonable skill, care and diligence and in accordance with the accepted standards of practice.”
In addition, the health authority and a risk management services official named in the claim deny that communications made by the official “contained any false statements, and state that all such communications were made in good faith and without malice.”
Felicity, 16, was found unresponsive in her bedroom just days before Christmas 2023.
Her parents told Peace Arch News in 2024 that the Grade 11 student had been struggling for some time with depression and had been participating in the health authority’s START (Short Term Assessment Response Treatment) program, which provides services for children and youth who are experiencing mental health and/or substance-use crises.
Connecting with a START team member weekly since late October 2023, the teen wasn’t offered an alternative when a mid-December appointment was cancelled. She died days later.
In September 2024, Fraser Health’s director of regional mental health and substance use services confirmed to PAN that Felicity’s death prompted a change to how unexpected absences of START employees are handled.
David Donovan, along with Felicity’s mom Laura and her two sisters, first filed suit in mid-August 2025, alleging negligence, breach of duty and bad faith. They asserted that the health authority and a risk management services official, as well as the school district and an Elgin Park Secondary counsellor, failed their daughter in the weeks and months leading up to her death – “including obligations to act in a culturally safe manner” – and after, “engaged in a pattern of conduct intended to minimize or conceal their liability.”
David Donovan in early November filed both a notice of discontinuance of the original claim and a new notice of claim; to proceed as the sole plaintiff in the case.
He told PAN he also filed for divorce, noting the family-law issues show “how deeply the system’s failures have affected our family and why accountability matters.”
The responses filed by both the health authority and Surrey Schools note that the initial claim has not been resolved, citing no notice of discontinuance by the other plaintiffs.
None of the allegations have been tested in court.
According to the father’s notice of claim, he had advised Felicity’s school counsellor of his daughter’s struggles with mental health, academics and substance use two months before her death, “thereby placing SD36 and (the counsellor) on notice of a student in crisis and triggering their statutory and policy duties,” and that two days later, Felicity had disclosed “a recent suicide attempt and ongoing suicidal ideation with a specific plan directly to” the counsellor.
That counsellor then contacted Fraser Health with information that “formally established Felicity as a high-risk youth,” the claim adds.
The health authority’s filed response notes Felicity’s risk of suicide was assessed as low on Oct. 23, Nov. 1, Nov. 15, Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, and that between Dec. 13 and 19, “neither the Fraser Health Authority nor the START Program were advised of any concerns about Felicity’s mental health or changes in her condition.”
“Felicity Donovan and her parents David Donovan and Laura Donovan were aware that if they had concerns about Felicity Donovan’s mental health they could contact the START Program and an appointment or referral to other resources could have been arranged,” it adds.
Surrey Schools in its response agreed it owed Felicity a duty of care, but denies the description of it that Donovan sets out in his claim, which includes a “heightened duty on SD36 and (the counsellor) to take urgent and effective protective action.”
While Felicity had disclosed to the counsellor “on or about October 18, 2023 … that she was experiencing thoughts of suicide and that she had attempted suicide about one month prior,” between approximately Oct. 19 and Dec. 19, 2023, “no further acute mental health issues or concerns regarding suicide risk were reported… nor were any acute mental health issues or concerns regarding suicide risk observed,” including while Felicity was at school on Dec. 19, the response continues.
Surrey Schools also denied any discrimination, noting reasonable cultural supports for Indigenous students were in place and accessed by Felicity.
The health authority submitted discrimination “under the Human Rights Code or Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act does not establish a legal basis for any civil claim that is recognized by law, and should be dismissed.”