Article content

RCMP continue to investigate the death of a toddler whose remains were discovered in a rural Manitoba barn, as the child’s former caregiver says she is confident whoever was responsible for the child’s death little girl will one day be brought to justice.

“I have my suspicions, so I expect charges to be laid,” Natalie Anderson said Tuesday morning at Memorial Park in downtown Winnipeg, where a sacred fire burns in honor of Xavia Skye Lynn Butler.

RCMP said the remains of a young child, later identified as Xavia, were discovered in a barn on a property in the RM of Grahamdale in June. Police said the girl was believed to have been between one and two years old when she died and that they were investigating her death as a homicide.

Article content

The young child, originally from the Pinaymootang First Nation, was never reported missing, according to police.

Over the weekend, RCMP announced they would be going door to door in the area speaking to residents, while continuing to investigate the girl’s death and trying to establish a timeline.

According to Anderson, she raised Xavia from birth until she was around nine months old, having made an agreement with the child’s biological mother, who is also Anderson’s first cousin, to care for Xavier.

“She didn’t want to raise the baby, and she didn’t want to adopt it or have an abortion, so we made a deal that I would take her and raise her,” Anderson said.

While they were together, Anderson said she considered Xavia her daughter and hoped to continue raising her.

Article content

Article content

“She was precious, she was my world,” Anderson said. “This baby was a gift.”

According to Anderson, in March 2022, a CFS employee informed her that the birth mother wanted Xavia back, and she said Xavia had been removed from her home, despite what she said was no prior involvement of the CFS concerning his care of the infant.

“That was the last time I saw her,” Anderson said. “It was my baby, it was heartbreaking. It broke me, it broke me as a woman and it broke me as a mother.

RCMP confirmed that investigators were last able to physically locate Xavia about a year before her death.

Anderson said so far she is confident in the work investigators have done and that charges will be filed in Xavia’s death.

Article content

“I think it’s a matter of time,” she said. “They have to be very thorough on this, but they have worked very, very hard on this, so I hope that charges will be filed soon.”

“There must be justice for my baby.”

But Anderson is also angry because she said that if Xavia had stayed with her, she would still be alive today.

“If they had honored our deal, she would be alive,” Anderson said. “And now it feels like a big part of my heart has been ripped out.”

Police confirmed that Xavia was not in the care of Child and Family Services at the time of her death and said investigators were looking for photos of Xavia taken after March 2022.

Police are also asking anyone who saw the girl after March 2022 or has information about her death to contact the RCMP Major Crimes tip line at 431-489-8112.

Article content

The Winnipeg Sun contacted the province, which oversees child and family services in Manitoba, but a spokesperson said the province would not comment on specific cases involving CFS.

“The department would not be able to confirm any of these details as it is unable to discuss the records of any specific child in care,” the spokesperson said.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter working for the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Do you have any thoughts on what’s happening in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or the world? Send us a letter to the editor at [email protected]

Article content