Kids 'ripped out' of safe spaces after province cut ties with foster home operator that provided pot: worker
CBC
Workers with a Manitoba foster home operator that gave cannabis to kids in care say the province moved too quickly to cut ties with Spirit Rising House, leaving at-risk youth in its homes uncertain where they'll be living in the next month.
Abigail Shepell, a support worker at one of the 11 homes run by Spirit Rising House, said it took 2½ years to get three siblings together in the same home.
But with the imminent closure of that foster home, they now don't know where they are headed.
"It's not fair that they're being ripped out of these homes where they feel safe, they feel loved," said Shepell — one of several Spirit Rising House workers who gathered outside Manitoba's legislative building Thursday to protest the province's decision to end its relationship with the private, for-profit foster home operator.
"They aren't being listened to. They're advocating for themselves to stay in these homes."
Last month, the provincial government said it was cutting ties with Spirit Rising House after learning some of its workers were giving unauthorized cannabis to youth in their care as a form of harm reduction.
Several former and current employees told CBC News they had concerns with how the homes were run, alleging the pot was used as a way to numb the kids instead of dealing with their trauma.
Shepell said the three siblings she fears could be split up are between the ages of 14 and 17. They're Level 5 CFS children — youth with high, complex care needs deemed at risk of sexual exploitation, drug use and self-harm.
Since being reunited, they've been working together to get sober, said Shepell.
"They've depended on each other. When one is feeling down, the other two pick each other up. It's really amazing to see that a family can be brought back together," she said.
However, the three siblings will not be separated, according to a spokesperson for the Southern Network of Care, which oversees the delivery of services by the Southeast Child and Family Services agency.
The children housed in Spirit Rising House's 11 homes were under the guardianship of Southeast CFS.
Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said about a third of the kids in Spirit Rising House's care have been moved, with no timeline for when the rest will find new homes.
Some who are over the age of 18 are transitioning to adult services, she said, but her department is focusing on individualized plans for each youth.
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.