Feds make no commitment to meet with men switched at birth

By: Mia Rabson Posted: 7:50 PM CDT Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016

OTTAWA - Health Minister Jane Philpott is undecided about the possibility of meeting directly with the four Manitoba men who were sent home with the wrong mothers after being born at the Norway House Indian Hospital in 1975.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/08/2016 (3386 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – Health Minister Jane Philpott is undecided about the possibility of meeting directly with the four Manitoba men who were sent home with the wrong mothers after being born at the Norway House Indian Hospital in 1975.

Former Manitoba Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson said Monday he feels the least the government can do is have Philpott meet with the men and their families.

“The most decent thing would be to hear them out first hand,” he told the Free Press.

JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS files
Leon Swanson (right) with his mother, Charlotte Mason, and stepfather, Henry Mason, revealed Friday he and David Tait Jr. had been switched at birth at the Norway House Indian Hospital. — JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS files Leon Swanson (right) with his mother, Charlotte Mason, and stepfather, Henry Mason, revealed Friday he and David Tait Jr. had been switched at birth at the Norway House Indian Hospital.

Philpott’s press secretary, Andrew MacKendrick, said Tuesday “nothing has been decided” on that front.

Last week, DNA tests confirmed Norway House residents Leon Swanson and David Tait, Jr. were switched at birth after being born in late January and early February 1975. That revelation came 10 months after another DNA test confirmed two men from Garden Hill First Nation, Norman Barkman and Luke Monias, were switched at birth after being born at the same hospital on June 19, 1975.

Philpott asked her department to look into the situation with Barkman and Monias last November. Now with two cases of it happening at the same hospital, she is hiring an independent third party to review all the records. As well, Health Canada will provide DNA testing for anyone else born at the Norway House Indian Hospital in the mid-1970s who fears they may not have been sent home with their biological mother.

Robinson is irked nobody from Health Canada has met directly with any of the families thus far. A departmental spokesman said Tuesday someone from Health Canada has been in contact with community leadership and with a medical professional who is working with the men.

The third-party investigator will interview the family members and the men themselves, said the spokesman.

There is no timeline for when that investigator will be hired or when the report will be completed, although Philpott has promised to make the findings public.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca