Close X
Monday, September 30, 2024
ADVT 
National

Winnipeg Police Arrest Boy In Serious Attack On Girl, Both In Foster Care

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 02 Apr, 2015 02:39 PM

    WINNIPEG — Police have charged a 15-year-old boy in an attack that left a teen girl under the care of Manitoba Child and Family Services in critical condition.

    Just a day after the girl was found seriously assaulted and left for dead in downtown Winnipeg, police say they have a youth in custody who faces charges of aggravated assault and aggravated sexual assault.

    At the time of the attack, police say the girl and the boy were in foster care and were being housed in the same downtown hotel. Police say the two knew each other.

    "Winnipeg Police Service members located the injured female eleven minutes prior to her being reported missing," police said in a release Thursday.

    A tearful Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross promised Wednesday to end the use of hotels to house foster children by June 1.

    The promise has been made before. In 2006, then-family services minister Gord Mackintosh promised to end the practice by July 1, 2007, because "a hotel room is no substitute for a family room."

    Irvin-Ross renewed that commitment in November when 15-year-old Tina Fontaine was killed after running away from one.

    Thelma Favel, Fontaine's great-aunt, wondered how many more tragedies it will take before something changes. The child welfare system should have been fixed years ago, she said.

    "It had to take another young girl to be beaten and left for dead," said Favel, who took Tina into her home in Powerview, Man., and raised her as a daughter for years. 

    "Every time I hear about another child being beaten and left for dead, it breaks my heart."

    Fontaine was reported missing from foster care last August but was picked up at a hospital by child welfare workers after being found passed out in a downtown alley. She was taken to a hotel where she ran away for the last time.

    Her body was found wrapped in a bag in the Red River.

    Social workers didn't take Fontaine inside the hotel but dropped her off outside, Favel said.

    "What kind of care is that?" she said.

    "Tina's death opened a lot of people's eyes, but it had to take my baby to die for them to start to realize there is a problem. But the problem was always there. They just turned a blind eye to it."

    Manitoba has about 10,000 children in care. The vast majority are aboriginal. On any given day, dozens of those children are put up in hotels because there isn't room in a foster or group home.

    The provincial government has been under fire for housing foster children in hotels 15 years.

    Manitoba's Children's Advocate has released several critical reports about the practice since 2000, urging the government to find better alternatives.  

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Saskatoon museum learns prized bust once belonged to French emperor

    Saskatoon museum learns prized bust once belonged to French emperor
    SASKATOON — A museum curator in Saskatoon says a bronze bust donated in 1988 once belonged to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

    Saskatoon museum learns prized bust once belonged to French emperor

    Murder charges dropped against man accused in Toronto neighbourhood shooting

    Murder charges dropped against man accused in Toronto neighbourhood shooting
    TORONTO — Two first-degree murder charges have been withdrawn against a man accused in a July 2012 shooting that sparked panic at a community barbecue in Toronto.

    Murder charges dropped against man accused in Toronto neighbourhood shooting

    Finance Minister Oliver says he won't meddle with banks' decisions on rates

    Finance Minister Oliver says he won't meddle with banks' decisions on rates
    OTTAWA — Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver says he has no intention of pushing Canadian banks to follow the Bank of Canada's lead and drop their rates.

    Finance Minister Oliver says he won't meddle with banks' decisions on rates

    Montreal man charged with terrorism hoax to undergo more psychiatric tests

    Montreal man charged with terrorism hoax to undergo more psychiatric tests
    MONTREAL — A Montreal man facing a terrorism-related charge will undergo an additional six weeks of psychiatric evaluation.

    Montreal man charged with terrorism hoax to undergo more psychiatric tests

    Search Called Off For Hiker Missing For Weeks On Vancouver's North Shore

    VANCOUVER — Weeks after Liang Jin set out for a hike on Vancouver's North Shore mountains, the search for the 21-year-old man has been called off.

    Search Called Off For Hiker Missing For Weeks On Vancouver's North Shore

    Bankrupt Man Can't Escape Repaying Student Loans: B.C. Supreme Court Judge

    Bankrupt Man Can't Escape Repaying Student Loans: B.C. Supreme Court Judge
    KAMLOOPS, B.C. — A former university student who declared bankruptcy must repay his student loans, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled.

    Bankrupt Man Can't Escape Repaying Student Loans: B.C. Supreme Court Judge