CFS worker had quit university, inquiry told

Chief-Abigosis testified she studied full time

Advertisement

Advertise with us

The social worker who testified under oath at the Phoenix Sinclair inquiry earlier that she was busy as a full-time student while handling Phoenix's case had actually voluntarily withdrawn from her university classes by then, the inquiry heard today.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/01/2013 (4906 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The social worker who testified under oath at the Phoenix Sinclair inquiry earlier that she was busy as a full-time student while handling Phoenix’s case had actually voluntarily withdrawn from her university classes by then, the inquiry heard today.

The university transcript of Delores Chief-Abigosis was entered as evidence at the inquiry into the death of the little girl in care by commission counsel today as the inquiry that began in September resumed after the Christmas holidays.

The former Winnipeg Child and Family Services social worker testified earliert she was assigned the file on Phoenix in the fall of 2000.

Delores Chief-Abigosis
Delores Chief-Abigosis

She had little contact with Phoenix or her family and quit CFS after Phoenix’s baby sister Echo died in July 2001 of a respiratory illness.

Chief-Abigosis raised eyebrows at the inquiry earlier when she testified that she was living in Brokenhead First Nation and commuting to the University of Manitoba and her full-time CFS job in Winnipeg.

Commission counsel Sherri Walsh said today Chief-Abigosis’s U of M transcript shows she withdrew voluntarily from all her course work in the 1999-2000 school year.

Phoenix was killed in 2005 when she was five years old by her mother and stepfather but her death wasn’t discovered for a year.

The inquiry was ordered in 2011 by the province to determine how Phoenix fell through Manitoba’s child-welfare safety net, what circumstances many have contributed to her death and why it took so long for her death to be discovered.

The Canadian Press archives
Phoenix Sinclair is shown in a family photo released by the Commission of Inquiry looking into her 2005 death. Commissioner Ted Hughes is urging all lawyers involved to let the hearings continue.
The Canadian Press archives Phoenix Sinclair is shown in a family photo released by the Commission of Inquiry looking into her 2005 death. Commissioner Ted Hughes is urging all lawyers involved to let the hearings continue.
Report Error Submit a Tip

Local

LOAD LOCAL ARTICLES