Startling, often unusual testimony wraps up at Manitoba child custody hearing
Published Friday July 3rd, 2009
WINNIPEG - A young girl with skin covered in racist markings. A mother testifying in shackles. A father talking about interracial breeding and Norse gods.
Weeks of often startling, sometimes strange testimony at a child custody hearing involving two alleged white supremacists ended Friday.
It remains unclear when a Court of Queen's Bench judge will render her verdict in a case that raises questions about how far parents can go in instilling their beliefs in children.
The children, a girl and boy, were seized by child welfare authorities last year after the eldest showed up at her elementary school with several racist slogans and symbols drawn on her skin in permanent marker.
Manitoba Child and Family Services is asking the court for permanent care of the kids, alleging their parents' views caused them emotional harm. The department also alleges the parents raised their children in squalor and neglected them.
The father's own parents were the last to testify Friday, supporting his attempts to get the children back.
"(The father) has accepted responsibility for his actions and accepts he needs changing," the paternal grandfather said. "He loves his children dearly."
But under cross-examination, the grandfather admitted telling a social worker that neither his son nor his daughter-in-law were dependable enough to even raise a cat because they didn't work and spent a lot of time partying.
"That was the way I was feeling when (the children) were apprehended," he explained.
The case was unusual from the beginning.
When the girl and her younger brother were seized by child welfare workers, she explained that her mother had drawn the racist symbols and slogans on her skin because she did not like white people.
Three social workers testified the girl frequently used a bevy of racial epithets to describe blacks, Asians, aboriginals and other minorities. One worker told the court the girl calmly described how black people could be killed with a ball and chain, and that people who are not white should be shipped to other countries.
The mother, who is separated from the father and now lives in another province, didn't attend court initially. Instead, she gave interviews to several media outlets and accused the social workers of putting words in her daughter's mouth.
When the mother finally did travel to Manitoba for the hearing, she was arrested on charges of credit card fraud. She testified in leg shackles. For now, she has given up on getting her kids back.
The father admitted to using Nazi salutes, telling his children that white people should not have children with people from other races, and telling them that non-whites belong in other countries. He testified he was influenced at an early age by stories of Vikings, Norse gods and mythical Greek hero Hercules. But he said his beliefs do not amount to racism, and maintained he never preached violence.
The father has filed a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, arguing he has the right to instill his beliefs in his children. That argument will be heard in September when the case resumes for final submissions.
A psychologist who examined the parents told the court the mother has the emotional age of an "out of control" 14-year-old, while the father seems to be acting more on principle than for the welfare of his children.
The children should remain in government care for at least two years, the psychologist said, until the parents can develop more stable lives.
Kris Janovcik, the lawyer for Manitoba Child and Family Services, has tried to steer the case away from the charter issue. The case is not about an adult's charter rights, he said at the start of the trial, but about how children can be affected by being taught to hate people, being "painted up like a billboard" with racist drawings, and living in poverty and neglect.
He challenged the father's plan to regain custody of the kids and support them. Under cross-examination, the father admitted to only working a few weeks in each of the last three years.
"You're not working at all," Janovcik told the father earlier this week. "You don't work and you don't know the last time you worked."
The case was also unusual for media outlets, who had to report on the trial without revealing anything that might identify any of the family members or witnesses, as is required by Manitoba law.
A television station apologized after it inadvertently broadcasted the names of the mother and father. A local newspaper reporter was banned from the proceedings after identifying an expert witness.
Because of the concern over media coverage, reporters will only be allowed to view written final arguments. They will not be allowed to make copies.
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