Two men who grew up on a Manitoba reserve as close friends are calling on the federal government to investigate after learning this week that they were switched at birth in hospital.
At a news conference on Friday, Manitoba’s Minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Eric Robinson said that Norman Barkman and Luke Monias were sent home with each other’s parents after their mothers both gave birth on June 19, 1975, at a federal hospital near the Norway House First Nation. They grew up together in the Garden Hill First Nation.
Robinson said the two men grew up as “close friends,” and were always told that they resembled each other’s family members “more than their own.”
“As time went on, they started to wonder themselves if it was more than just a coincidence,” Robinson said.
Monias decided to seek out the truth earlier this year, with co-operation from both men’s surviving parents. DNA tests came back Tuesday, “confirming their fears,” Robinson said.
“This horrible and irresponsible mix-up at the hospital has caused long-term damage to both these men and their families,” Robinson said.
Barkman and Monias joined Robinson in calling for an “immediate investigation” into the events surrounding this “grievous error.”
Sitting next to Norman Barkman, Luke Monias told reporters he would like Ottawa to conduct an investigation.
“I want the federal government to do an investigation (into) why and how this happened to us, Monias said. “I would like some answers for me and my family.”
Monias said the men have known each other since childhood, and even called each other “brothers.”
“He’s still my brother no matter what,” Monias said.
Fighting back tears, Norman Barkman said he just wants to know “what happened 40 years ago.”
Both men said while they were shocked by the DNA test results, there was no denying that they resemble each other’s families.
Barkman told reporters that one of his brothers said that looking at Luke Monias was “like looking into the mirror.”
“They almost look the same.”
Robinson said the lives of the men and their families “have been irreversibly torn apart” by the error.
“The mental, physical and spiritual well-being of both men has been deeply affected by the loss of their proper identity,” he added, saying their small community has also been affected by the news, "to a large degree."
Norman’s biological mother, who raised Luke believing him to be her son, is deceased.
Norman’s biological father is alive, as is Luke’s biological mother.
Each of the men has multiple siblings as well.
