Police to probe 1975 birth swaps
Manitoba hospital investigated for criminal wrongdoing
The RCMP has launched an investigation to determine whether any criminal wrongdoing may have led two pairs of babies to be switched at birth in 1975 at a remote, federally run hospital in Manitoba.
“The RCMP has an obligation to the families involved and to the public to determine if the incidents at the Norway House Indian Hospital were accidental or criminal in nature,” Manitoba RCMP said in a statement Friday.
The i nvestigation was not prompted by a formal complaint, the RCMP added.
This summer, 41- year- old best friends David Tait Jr. and Leon Swanson of the Norway House Cree Nation, held an emotional news conference to announce they had been switched at birth. Years of suspicions and teasing over their resemblance to each other’s parents led them to submit to DNA tests.
Less than a year earlier, another pair — Luke Monias and Norman Barkman of the Garden Hill First Nation — went public after DNA tests confirmed they, too, had gone home with the wrong mothers from the same hospital the same year.
Two RCMP investigators inter- viewed some of the individuals and their families at the detachment in Norway House Friday. They asked for permission to access their health records, a source said.
Some of the family members were nervous going into the meeting, said Eric Robinson, Manitoba’s former aboriginal affairs minister, who has been pushing for an investigation into what happened.
“I told them, ‘ Don’t be worried about it. You’ve got the truth on your side. You did nothing wrong,’ ” Robinson said.
He praised the Mounties for deciding to pursue an investigation.
“A lot of time has passed since then. It’ ll be a challenge to put everything into order,” he said. “To investigate a matter that’s 41 years old is a credit to how seriously they take this matter.”
In a statement Friday, Health Canada said it was “committed to understanding the circumstances that led to the individuals being switched at birth and being able to provide answers to the individuals, their families and the community.
“Health Canada will fully cooperate with their investigation.”
The department has announced its own investigation into the switched-at-birth cases and said it would work with a third party to review all available hospital records.
Back in 1975, the hospital was operated by the federal Department of National Health and Welfare’s Indian Health Services branch.
The National Post reported this week that government records at Library and Archives Canada show the remote facility was in disarray in 1975 and Ottawa was being urged to scale back the services the hospital provided or shut it down.
According to the records, the building’s design was outdated and a potential fire trap; the annual turnover rate of doctors and nurses was almost 100 per cent; the hospital reported an unusually high number of childbirth complications; and there was “widespread lack of confidence” among locals over the treatment provided.
After publication of the story, it was announced that Health Minister Jane Philpott had agreed to meet the four men who were switched at birth. The meeting is expected this month.