Family seeks answers, justice after remains of toddler taken from their care found in barn
Xavia Skye Lynn Butler's body was discovered last June
Natalie Anderson says she shared the first moments of Xavia Skye Lynn Butler's life, taking care of the toddler for her biological mother before Manitoba's Child and Family Services took her away.
Three years after being separated, the remains of the Pinaymootang First Nation toddler were discovered in June in a barn off Highway 6 in the rural municipality of Grahamdale, in Manitoba's Interlake.
RCMP believe Xavia was one or two when she died. She would have turned three the month her remains were found.
Anderson's family is demanding justice in Xavia's death, which the RCMP is investigating as a homicide, while looking for answers as to why the toddler was stripped from their care.
"I want her face known. I want her story known. I want change," Anderson told CBC News.
A sacred fire was set in Memorial Park in Winnipeg, where Anderson's family and friends gathered on Friday, drumming and singing prayers.
Anderson's mother figure, Nadine Bone, who was at the sacred fire, says the family brought some stuffed animals with them, planning to place them at the steps of Manitoba's legislative building every six hours.
"She loved her stuffies.… 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 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 signatures from both women and a nurse.
Cared for by her family since her birth in June 2021, Bone says Xavia never lacked love from the women around her.
"She was just happy," Bone said. "She just loved being with us girls. She was never alone."
Child and Family Services didn't approach the family until March 17, 2022, when, Anderson says a CFS worker from the Anishinaabe agency division knocked on her door.
"They took her.… That's the last time I saw her," Anderson said. "I told her that she was going for a car ride and mommy would be waiting."
The RCMP say Xavia was not in CFS care at the time when she is believed to have died, but wouldn't confirm or deny any CFS involvement prior to her death.
Anderson told CBC News in an interview last week that Xavia went to live with her biological mother. At first, the two were in touch almost daily through video chats, but these became less frequent until Anderson lost all communication.
Neither she or others in her family had any luck when they tried to check up on her, Anderson says.
"They had no right to take her," Anderson said. "They should have honoured that agreement. If they honoured that, she'd still be here with me."
'Our systems failed her'
Sage Kent, an Indigenous grassroots advocate who has been supporting Anderson's family, said the two mothers came to an agreement, and "it should have been respected and acknowledged."
"Natalie was supposed to be the caregiver," Kent said at the sacred fire on Friday. "Our systems failed her, the Canadian governments failed her and the CFS system failed her."
The toddler was never reported missing, and RCMP say the last time police were able to physically place Xavia was about a year before her body was found.
In an update Friday, police told CBC their investigation is continuing, 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 department can't confirm any details of a child in care as the records of a specific case are confidential.
With files from Josh Crabb and Arturo Chang