Social services inquiry mushrooms

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An inquest into the 1988 suicide of a 13-year-old boy from Sandy Bay, Man.,

has become a wide-ranging inquiry into a Native-run social services agency.

It began as a standard medical examiner's inquest into the death of a youth, who hanged himself while living in a foster home. But when examiners found the boy's files missing from the offices of the Dakota-Ojibway Family and Social Services offices, it set

a spark to explosive rumors of political interference in the delivery of on-reserve social services.

"It's just mushroomed," said Ruth Teichroeb, a journalist who has been covering the inquiry into how the agency has handled child welfare on eight reserves in southwestern Manitoba.

"It's an investigation into the suicide of one child, but it has broadened out. The death has become the starting point of a larger investigation."

Testimony at the two-month-old investigation has highlighted several instances

of alleged political interference in the operations of child and family welfare services.

In one case, a band councillor from the Sandy Bay reserve said he blocked the apprehension of 10 children three years ago, even though one of the children had accused him of sexual assault.

The man said he was unaware of the accusation and was acting on community concerns that the apprehensions might break up families unnecessarily.

Documents released later at the inquest suggested the provincial government killed a plan to publicly review the Dakota-Ojibway services four years ago. The unsigned papers indicated government officials wanted to avoid an open confrontation with chiefs during an election year.

"We knew this kind of thing had been going on for the 10 years since the creation of the service," said Winnie Giesbrecht, president of Manitoba's Indigenous Women's Collective.

"We've been hearing reports about (political interference). It's something you hear, but not something you can prove. This case has brought it all forward."

The current case has created stress for the Dakota-Ojibway agency. Executive director Morris Merrick refused to be interviewed, saying only that many of the accusations against the agency are based on "gossip and rumor."

"Don't believe what you read in the paper," he said. ("Our) traditional way is under attack."

But Teichroeb attributed the ballooning of this inquiry to timing. She said women's groups has been raising concerns about the existing system. She also said provincial court judge Brian Giesbrecht, who is hearing the testimony, plans to make broad recommendations at the end of the inquiry.

"It's obvious Giesbrecht will be making recommendations. At the same time he said he supports aboriginal agencies," she said.

Native child welfare services in Manitoba operate a unique system that shares responsibilities and costs between reserve, provincial and federal governments. The agreements have been in place for 10 years, putting on-reserve child welfare services under the authority of band councils.

Manitoba's system has been open to accusations of political interference. For example, band councillors, who periodically face elections, may not take action in cases where children are members of politically strong families at the community level.