Natalie Anderson says she shared the first moments of Xavia Skye Lynn Butler’s life, caring for her biological mother’s toddler before Manitoba Child and Family Services took him away.

Three years after their separation, the remains of the toddler from Pinaymootang First Nation were discovered in June in a barn off Highway 6 in the Rural Municipality of Grahamdale in Manitoba’s Interlake region.

RCMP believe Xavia was one or two years old when she died. She would have been three years old the month her remains were found.

Anderson’s family is demanding justice in Xavia’s death, which RCMP are investigating as a homicide, while seeking answers about why the child was removed from their care.

“I want his face to be known. I want his story to be known. I want change,” Anderson told CBC News.

WATCH | Calls for justice after discovery of child’s death:

A sacred fire burns for a toddler whose remains were found last summer in Interlake, Manitoba

A sacred fire is burning in Winnipeg’s Memorial Park for a toddler whose remains were found last summer in an Interlake barn. RCMP are investigating the death of Xavia Skye Lynn Butler as a homicide. Now the little one’s former caregiver wants to know why Xavia was taken away from her.

A sacred fire was lit in Memorial Park in Winnipeg, where Anderson’s family and friends gathered Friday, drumming and singing prayers.

Anderson’s mother figure, Nadine Bone, who was by the sacred fire, said the family brought stuffed animals with them, planning to place them on the steps of the Manitoba legislative building every six hours.

“She loved her stuffed animals.… We’re here to help her find her way home,” Bone said.

“She was never alone”

Anderson says she and Xavia’s biological mother — her cousin — agreed that Anderson would raise the toddler, and together they signed a document to that effect. CBC News has seen a copy of the document, which shows the signatures of women and a nurse.

Cared for by her family since her birth in June 2021, Bone says Xavia has never lacked love from the women around her.

“She was just happy,” Bone said. “She loved being with us girls. She was never alone.”

Child and Family Services did not contact the family until March 17, 2022, when, according to Anderson, a CFS employee from the Anishinaabe agency division knocked on their door.

“They took her away…That’s the last time I saw her,” Anderson said. “I told her she was going for a drive and mom would be waiting.”

RCMP said Xavia was not in CFS care at the time she was believed to have died, but would not confirm or deny any CFS involvement before her death.

Anderson told CBC News in an interview last week that Xavia went to live with her biological mother. At first, the two men were in contact almost daily via video chats, but these became less frequent until Anderson lost all communication.

Neither she nor other members of her family had any luck when they tried to check on her, Anderson said.

“They had no right to take him,” Anderson said. “They should have honored that agreement. If they had, she would still be here with me.”

“Our systems failed him”

Sage Kent, an Indigenous advocate who supports Anderson’s family, said the two mothers reached an agreement and “that agreement should have been respected and recognized.”

“Natalie was supposed to be the caregiver,” Kent said Friday in front of the sacred fire. “Our systems failed it, Canadian governments failed it, and the CFS system failed it.”

The little girl was never reported missing, and RCMP say the last time police were able to physically locate Xavia was about a year before her body was found.

In an update Friday, police told CBC their investigation continues, adding they are in contact with Xavia’s biological mother.

A spokesperson for the province, which oversees child and family services, told CBC News the ministry cannot confirm any details about a child in care because records of a specific case are confidential.