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No retribution for Gage's death

It's those who loved tot who pay price

Posted: 03/9/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

An unlikely trinity gathered at the Law Courts building Monday morning to learn the punishment for the woman charged for her role in the 2007 death of Gage Guimond.Gage, you'll recall, was the sunny two-year-old born to parents with no skill or desire to give him a secure home. He and his sister went into care, winning the foster-kid lottery with a Selkirk family who loved the pair as their own. That ended abruptly when Child and Family Services stepped in and "returned" the siblings to their biological family.

They didn't want the kids, plain and simple. CFS first handed them to the children's grandmother, a woman with 11 children of her own. They were but two of her 12 grandchildren. She had what we gently call "addictions issues."

After that strikeout, the kids were moved to the home of Shirley Guimond, a great-aunt who had never met them. She has a criminal record. Guimond was so overwhelmed with the task of caring for two preschoolers that she called CFS twice to ask for help. She got voice mail.

Gage died in her house. His sister was removed from the home covered in bruises. She was allowed to move back in with the Selkirk family, now without her baby brother.

Shirley Guimond was charged with manslaughter. She plea-bargained her way down to assault causing bodily harm. She got a 68-day sentence, doubled to reflect time spent in custody. Monday, she was in court to be sentenced for failing to provide the necessities of life to Gage and his sister.

She faces five years in prison, although she's not likely to see more than a couple of months. After all, she didn't admit to killing the child and the prosecution couldn't prove it.

The CFS workers who decided cultural ties were more important than the safety of children have not, as far as I've been able to determine, been charged or censured.

So there they were in a small courtroom Monday morning: mom, foster mom and auntie, assorted friends and family, all waiting to see what the verdict would be. It was like the wedding from hell.

The foster parents sat near the back of the court. They held hands throughout the proceedings, two people who, nearly three years after Gage was killed, still care enough to come to court. They were the only chance Gage and his sister ever had. Sadly, one of the reasons the case was adjourned Monday was that their victim-impact statements had just been received.

Gage's birth mother, Natasha Guimond, was up front on the right-hand side of the court. She's a slender, pretty young woman, her long hair dyed a flat shade of orange. Her companions were rambunctious young men.

And then there was Shirley Guimond in the front row on the left-hand side of the court. She's got a softness about her, a slackness that speaks to age and a life lived hard. She was accompanied by a woman whose job, I'd be willing to bet, is one of the helping professions.

Mother, foster mother and aunt turned child abuser. These three women are linked in ways unimaginable and horrid. Natasha and the foster mother were both at the hospital when Gage was pulled off life support, although the younger woman fled before her toddler breathed his last. Shirley Guimond? Well, she was there when he died, wasn't she?

There can't be any justice for Gage Guimond. Retribution, as necessary as it may seem, isn't going to happen. The ones who will pay are those who loved him most, regardless of blood ties. They'll be back in court in a month's time, each knowing the legal outcome won't change what happened to a little boy who died bruised and battered.

lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 9, 2010 A6

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