Indigenous youth made up 83 per cent of Manitoba advocacy cases last year: report

A report from the Manitoba Child and Youth Advocate said the vast majority of children who died in the province last year from any cause were Indigenous.

A new report finds Indigenous children continue to be disproportionately represented in Manitoba child advocacy cases and over-indexed in child deaths and injury reviews by the province’s independent child welfare body.

The data comes in the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth’s (MACY) annual report which summarizes advocacy trends, research, investigations, and reviews.

Of the 3,018 requests to MACY for advocacy service in 2024-25, 83 per cent involved Indigenous children and youth.

The largest demographic of all cases, 36 per cent, were between 15 and 17 years old. Forty-two per cent involved concerns related to life survival and development, 34 per cent involved reviews of child placement, and 29 per cent involved food, clothing and a safe home.

The average case remained open to an advocacy officer for about 132 days.

Child death notifications rise: report

Another concerning takeaway—MACY received a total of 206 official child death notifications, which are done by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner any time a child under 21 dies in Manitoba. That number was down from from 237 in 2023-24 and 265 reported child deaths in 2022-23 levels.

MACY completed reviews of 86 of these deaths in 2024-25, which can be done if the child or youth was in contact with child welfare services, mental health, addiction services or the youth justice system in the year prior to their death.

According to MACY, 80 per cent of death reviews were for Indigenous children, youth or young adults. Ninety-seven per cent of the reviews were for children involved with Child and Family Services.

Indigenous children were also the largest demographic in injury reviews, making up 88 per cent of the 86 reviews MACY completed in the fiscal year. Of all injury review cases, 57 per cent faced some form of housing insecurity and 47 per cent encountered disruption in their access to education.

Of the reviews for primary injuries, just over half were the result of a sexual assault. Thirty-eight per cent of primary injuries were deemed life-threatening.

The majority of the secondary injuries were drug and alcohol related (58 per cent), followed by head injuries, penetrating wounds, and sexual assault by an unknown offender.

Youth addictions system ‘ill-equipped’: advocate

Also of concern—the report outlines increasing complexity among MACY’s advocacy cases, which more often involve young people with co-occurring challenges, often requiring services from multiple systems that must work together to address their needs.

Of the 3,018 advocacy cases opened in the fiscal year, 448 required long-term support or more interventions, the report said.

Sherry Gott, the Manitoba advocate, is calling for systemic change. She said the province’s current youth addiction system is not built to meet the complex and co-occurring needs of many young people and is fraught with long-standing gaps and barriers to services.

“These are significant and interrelated problems that expose a rift between commitment and action, and ultimately signal an urgent need for larger systemic change if we are serious about fulfilling the promise of children’s rights,” Gott wrote.

In response to the report, Manitoba’s Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said her office has launched programs across the province called Huddles that pair youth in need with mental health and addictions support.

“I know that there is gaps and there is lots of work to do, and certainly that’s something that our government is working to fill those gaps and make sure that those supports and services are there for those youth when they need it.”

The full report can be read on MACY’s website.

- With files from CTV’s Jamie Dowsett