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Winnipeg Free Press
09-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘He should never have been charged'
A Manitoba judge says a group home worker never would have been charged with sexually abusing a teenage girl had Winnipeg police and a provincial investigator conducted a proper probe into the allegations. 'In fact, it appears overwhelmingly clear that he could not have abused the child as suggested, and that he should never have been subjected to these proceedings,' wrote Court of King's Bench family division Judge Kaye Dunlop in a June 25 ruling. The man, who's in his late 50s, had worked in group homes and provincial corrections for decades, but lost his job, reputation and health, as well as his relationship with his only child for a 'significant period of time' over the false allegations. John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES 'Incomplete, single-minded and careless investigations that lead to such catastrophic consequences simply cannot happen,' said Dunlop. 'All institutions involved… must do more than the bare minimum to properly investigate and scrutinize the evidence before proceeding with allegations of child abuse.' Dunlop made the comments in her decision on an August 2021 attempt by the Child and Family All Nations Coordinated Response Network to have the worker's name placed on the provincial child abuse registry. The worker opposed the move, which led to court proceedings last year. Dunlop found he had not abused the girl as defined under the Child and Family Services Act and should not be placed on the registry. Crown prosecutors had stayed criminal charges of sexual assault and interference related to the girl's allegations during the worker's trial in February 2020. There were significant inconsistencies in her testimony compared with what she had told investigators. After the charges were stayed, the child welfare agency moved to have the worker added to the abuse registry. The worker is referred to by the initial 'M.' in Dunlop's decision. 'If any of the investigators tasked with investigating the child's allegations had actually done what they were supposed to do, they would have determined that there was sufficient objective evidence to be found that would have exonerated M. well before he was charged with criminality of a sexual nature,' wrote Dunlop, adding the vulnerable girl was owed 'a much greater duty of care than she received.' Dunlop said the girl likely faces long-term damage because of the stress of court proceedings and of not having been believed. The judge said she believes the girl may have been sexually assaulted at some point and that she doesn't think the girl, who is now an adult, intentionally fabricated her claim about M. The investigation was sparked in 2017, when the 15-year-old girl told her favourite worker at the Marymound group home that she had been sexually abused two years earlier while she stayed at another group home. That worker reported it to the girl's social worker, who reported it to the Child and Family All Nations Coordinated Response Network. The agency called in the provincial investigations unit, which is responsible for probing child abuse allegations related to child welfare system workers. A child abuse investigator interviewed the girl in February 2017, while she was pregnant and staying at a Winnipeg home for teenage single mothers. She told the investigator she had been sexually touched in the group home office in August 2015 by a white bald man who rode a bike to work. She referred to the worker by a short version of M.'s first name. The girl, who's from northern Manitoba, was taken to a city hospital and then the group home after she tried to harm herself in her home community in July 2015. The provincial investigator had a forensic investigator at Toba Centre conduct another interview with the girl days later, which was observed by a city police officer, who showed her an improper photo lineup. The police officer identified M. as the staffer, despite the child appearing unsure. The first police officer to handle the case didn't complete the investigation. The second officer to be given the case assumed it had been completed, Dunlop said. The second officer interviewed M. and later followed up for Crown prosecutors, but did not fully examine evidence or conduct thorough interviews with potential witnesses. Wednesdays Sent weekly from the heart of Turtle Island, an exploration of Indigenous voices, perspectives and experiences. M. 'quite literally begged' police and the provincial investigator to probe for information that would exonerate him, like looking at group home records, conducting interviews with a number of potential witnesses, including group home staff, and examining the layout of the facility, which would have made it impossible for him to abuse the girl in the manner she alleged, the judge wrote. The worker was eventually arrested and criminally charged in October 2017. After the criminal proceedings fell apart in early 2020, the same provincial abuse investigator interviewed M. in July of that year. Dunlop concluded the provincial investigator failed to review rafts of information — including information from the criminal proceedings in which the charges were stayed — before informing the child welfare agency the abuse claim had been substantiated. That played a pivotal role in the agency's move to have M.'s name placed on the abuse registry. Erik PinderaReporter Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik. Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Global News
06-06-2025
- Global News
N.S. man charged in child luring investigation involving 10-year-old American girl
A 42-year-old man from Dartmouth, N.S. has charged in connection with a child exploitation investigation that began after a tip from the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Halifax Regional Police say the accused is facing multiple charges, including luring a child under 16, making and possessing child pornography, and firearms-related offences. The investigation revealed that the man had been communicating online with a 10-year-old girl in the United States, posing as a 15-year-old boy. The interactions, which began in January 2025, involved inappropriate sexual content and the mailing of handwritten letters and gifts. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy On June 5, investigators executed a search warrant at Shute's residence on Gaston Road in Dartmouth, where they seized electronic devices and firearms. Police say John Aaron Shute was arrested without incident and has been remanded into custody. He is scheduled to appear in Dartmouth provincial court at a later date. Story continues below advertisement The Halifax Integrated Child Exploitation Unit has now collaborated with the Lakeshore Regional Child Advocacy Center in Wisconsin to advance the investigation. Police are urging anyone with information about suspected child exploitation to contact them, or submit an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers. In Nova Scotia, it is mandatory to report suspected child pornography. Failing to do so could result in penalties similar to those for failing to report child abuse under the Child and Family Services Act. The investigation remains ongoing, and additional charges may be laid.
Global News
14-05-2025
- Global News
Family claims child welfare agency apprehended children, left them in hotel for two weeks
Five children under the age of 16 were taken from kinship care arrangements and placed in a co-ed adult wellness lodge for several days before being moved to two different Winnipeg hotels where they were left for two weeks, according to frustrated relatives. It allegedly happened at the end of March. Family members say a 15-year-old was left in charge of her siblings, age 10, seven and six, in a west Winnipeg hotel for a week then moved to a Transcona-area hotel for another week. A 13-year-old ran away from the hotel and was missing, Winnipeg police confirm. He was found safe on April 17 and is reportedly now living with a family member. Photos obtained by Global News appear to show the other children in a hotel with TV dinners, Slurpees and lice-removal kits. Global News emailed the allegations to Southeast Child and Family Services executive director Rhonda Kelly on April 16 to confirm or refute details provided by the family and requested an interview. There was no response. Story continues below advertisement View image in full screen A Winnipeg family says a child welfare agency put children in hotels for two weeks leaving them to delouse themselves. Submitted Global News spoke with two of the children's relatives who cannot be identified under the Child and Family Services Act. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy One of them says the three youngest are now together in foster care while the now-16-year old is back in the kinship care she was taken from. The relative says they've not been told why the children were removed after six years of caring for the children or if they'll be returned. Both family members say they've called and emailed Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine to intervene. 'I want to know what she's doing … to protect our children,' one says. 'What is she doing so these workers aren't given so much power over everyone else. I want answers as to why children are placed in these kinds of environments.' Story continues below advertisement Fontaine told Global News that hotel placements 'do not occur' but there are exceptions where hotels stays are permitted. 'I'm not able as Minister of Families to comment on any particular files,' the minister said. 'What I will state… is the CFS standards are clear there are no hotel placements and any hotel stays for a wide range of issues are for the shortest duration of time.' Placing children in hotels was banned by the previous NDP government in 2015 after it was revealed child welfare agencies were placing at-risk kids in hotels, often unsupervised, where many were exploited or became victims or perpetrators of crime. By 2017, the Progressive Conservative government stopped tracking if hotels were being used to house children but the policy against that remains in place.
CBC
01-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Nunavut government shuts down Cambridge Bay group home
The Nunavut government has decided to shut down a group home in Cambridge Bay following an investigation into a report of child harm. In a brief news release on Friday afternoon, the territory said its director of family wellness had informed Nunik Care Services on Jan. 10 that its approval to operate as a child-care facility under the Child and Family Services Act had been rescinded. The release said the facility, which is a home for children and youth between five and 19 years old, had been given 60 days notice about the approval being revoked. It said the Department of Family Services was "working diligently" to make sure there were "transition plans" for the children and youth who lived in the home. The department did not say in the release what the findings were of its investigation. Home was facing community pressure to fold The department told CBC News late last year that it had been working with the RCMP to investigate the group home. Solomon Bucknor, the director of Nunik Care Services, previously told CBC News that two incidents had been under investigation – in one, a child accused an employee of choking them and in another, a youth claimed a staff member "manhandled" them. Bucknor denied the allegations at the time. The home opened in May 2023 and as of December was home to seven youth in care – some from Cambridge Bay, and others from different Nunavut communities. It is privately run, but funded by the Nunavut government. The home had been facing pressure from residents in the community to shut down, and a petition calling for its closure said that youth who lived there were "way out of control" and "out at all hours of the night." It also suggested the group home wasn't caring for youth properly, and that young people needed a place to go with better treatment. Nunavut RCMP previously confirmed that some crimes in the community had been linked to youth – some who were in care at the home, and some who were not. The recent release from the government of Nunavut doesn't say where young people living at the home will go instead.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Nunavut government shuts down Cambridge Bay group home
The Nunavut government has decided to shut down a group home in Cambridge Bay following an investigation into a report of child harm. In a brief news release on Friday afternoon, the territory said its director of family wellness had informed Nunik Care Services on Jan. 10 that its approval to operate as a child-care facility under the Child and Family Services Act had been rescinded. The release said the facility, which is a home for children and youth between five and 19 years old, had been given 60 days notice about the approval being revoked. It said the Department of Family Services was "working diligently" to make sure there were "transition plans" for the children and youth who lived in the home. The department did not say in the release what the findings were of its investigation. Home was facing community pressure to fold The department told CBC News late last year that it had been working with the RCMP to investigate the group home. Solomon Bucknor, the director of Nunik Care Services, previously told CBC News that two incidents had been under investigation – in one, a child accused an employee of choking them and in another, a youth claimed a staff member "manhandled" them. Bucknor denied the allegations at the time. The home opened in May 2023 and as of December was home to seven youth in care – some from Cambridge Bay, and others from different Nunavut communities. It is privately run, but funded by the Nunavut government. The home had been facing pressure from residents in the community to shut down, and a petition calling for its closure said that youth who lived there were "way out of control" and "out at all hours of the night." It also suggested the group home wasn't caring for youth properly, and that young people needed a place to go with better treatment. Nunavut RCMP previously confirmed that some crimes in the community had been linked to youth – some who were in care at the home, and some who were not. The recent release from the government of Nunavut doesn't say where young people living at the home will go instead.
