Stabbing death of 14-year-old girl in care highlights Manitoba's strained child welfare system, advocates say

A 14-year-old girl killed in a daytime stabbing in downtown Winnipeg last week fell through the cracks of a system that was supposed to help her, advocates say.

"She wasn't able to get the specialized care she needed" to "set the stage for her to change her life for the better," said Damon Johnston, president of the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg, an advocacy group for urban Indigenous people.

"That didn't happen. She was abruptly taken from us. And so I think what's important is that we hopefully will learn more about this."

Johnston said while he didn't know the girl personally, her case touches on the kind of systemic challenges facing many Indigenous youth in Winnipeg — including stretched resources and overworked staff in Manitoba's child welfare system.

Police said the girl was with a group of teens in the area of Graham Avenue and Fort Street early last Friday afternoon, when an argument broke out.

A 17-year-old boy abruptly pulled out a knife and stabbed the girl multiple times before running away, police allege. The boy has since been charged with second-degree murder.

Family told CBC News the girl's funeral will be held over the holidays in a northern First Nations community.

During a court hearing for the girl just one day before she was stabbed, a social worker said she had been unable to get funding for the kind of specialized housing placement needed by the teen, who struggled with a serious addiction and frequently ran away from foster homes.

Court heard she was also on a waiting list to be assessed for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

The teen had also been forbidden by a court order from going to a homeless encampment under the Donald Street bridge, which she'd visited before — a place the judge said "can be quite dangerous" for a young person.

'That was somebody's baby'

Desiree McIvor, an advocate who leads patrols in Winnipeg's inner city through the community group 1JustCity, said it's become common during those walks to see young Indigenous girls and women out on the streets.

Many are young people who have either aged out of the child welfare system or run away from it, McIvor said. Many also struggle with cycles of substance abuse.

Statistics show Indigenous children make up the vast majority of kids in care in Manitoba.

McIvor said issues like sexual exploitation and human trafficking put girls and women at an even greater risk when they're on the street.

"These are the women and girls that fall between the cracks of the system," McIvor said. 

"And it is really disappointing to hear that, because I know that that was somebody's baby."

Girl asked for 'placement as soon as possible'

At the hearing a day before she was killed, the girl told provincial court Judge Kusham Sharma she would follow her conditions and listen to probation orders after being released from custody.

"You need to listen and you need to connect with these people. I know sometimes you get busy," Sharma told the girl.

"But sometimes, I don't like talking to people," the girl replied in a quiet voice.

"Because, like, I don't like talking to people, certain people that don't know me — or that want to know me. And I don't like knowing a lot of people that would want to know me…. It has to be a certain person or circumstance."

The girl also repeatedly asked questions at the end of the hearing about when she would have somewhere to stay and where it might be.

Court was told that if the social worker was unable to find somewhere for the teen by 4 p.m. that day, she would be given an emergency placement. 

"Do you think you could find placement as soon as possible?" the girl asked her social worker at one point during the hearing.

"Doing my best," the worker replied.