The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is calling on the province to take “decisive action” after the release of documents detailing allegations a for-profit foster care provider made cannabis available to kids and took other actions that exposed them to harm, including being sexually trafficked.
“It is unacceptable that vulnerable children have been subjected to such egregious exploitation,” AMC deputy grand chief Betsy Kennedy said in a news release Wednesday. “The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the First Nations Family Advocate Office demand immediate and comprehensive action to ensure justice and protection for these children.”
Spirit Rising House had 14 group homes in Winnipeg and the rural municipalities of St. Andrews and West St. Paul before the provincial government severed ties in February.
Newly available search warrant documents filed in court in April show Winnipeg police sought approval to search the residences for drug paraphernalia, cannabis prescriptions for children in care, documentation detailing Spirit Rising House’s “harm reduction policies,” computer hard drives and electronic devices, and financial records of funds provided to Spirit Rising from Southeast Child and Family Services.
“I believe that these documents will provide additional evidence that person(s) who are part of SRH were criminally negligent, which caused numerous children in care to suffer bodily harm,” Winnipeg Police Service child abuse unit Const. Philip Cole wrote in an affidavit.
“It was also noted that the CIC (children in care) would have to use their allowance to purchase the cannabis from staff,” Cole wrote. “I am of the opinion that these CIC were in a vulnerable state and were provided cannabis that interfered with their health and comfort, thus causing bodily harm.”
Seized receipts show purchases from numerous cannabis dispensaries for drugs provided to children, court documents allege.
The affidavit states Southeast CFS, which had 21 children placed with Spirit Rising, interviewed “numerous” staff members, and children in care, who disclosed staff regularly provided kids with cannabis.
Police were alerted by a lawyer for Southeast CFS in February that a message posted to Reddit alleged foster home staff members had taken children to drug houses in the North End to buy drugs.
“The post indicated that one or more of the CIC may be sex trafficked or exploited,” the affidavit said.
Interviews conducted by Southeast CFS found Spirit Rising stopped providing children with cannabis after the Reddit post. A foster home worker told police staff at her home would instead drive children to an unlicenced grocery store, where the children would buy cannabis.
A support worker at another foster home told police foster parents at the home “would allow the CIC to go to houses where they would be exploited,” the affidavit states.
“The CICs were sexually exploiting themselves and selling themselves for alcohol and drugs,” the affidavit states.
Cannabis would be provided to children at one home as a “reward” for doing chores, a staff member told police. Staff did not directly provide the children with cannabis but would leave it on the ground outside the home, where kids would pick it up.
The staff member told police children were driven to the homes of drug dealers, which were entered on log reports as “going for groceries.”
The affidavit states a staff member who identified herself as a recovery coach alerted Southeast CFS about Spirit Rising’s “harm reduction policy,” saying children as young as 12 were being provided with cannabis.
The staff member “is scared for the (children’s) well-being as… some are about to age out of the program, and all they do is smoke marijuana and sleep,” the affidavit states.
The staff member alleged one child who went into treatment returned to Spirit Rising House 20 days sober and “was immediately given one gram of marijuana. That same CIC is now spiralling as a result.”
Spirit Rising released a 16-page “report” in May defending itself against the allegations, saying there is “secret and implied consent” in the child-welfare system for youth in foster-care placements to use cannabis, alcohol and hard drugs.
“As long as the youth are off property and sourcing the illicit substances for themselves at great personal peril, government, guardians, systems and caregivers can comfortably look the other way,” the report said.
The AMC is calling on the province and city police to help develop a youth strategy that will ensure the safety of vulnerable children in care.
“Our commitment is to advocate tirelessly until our children are safeguarded in nurturing environments,” Kennedy said.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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