The parents of a one-year-old girl who died in March of last year have been arrested and charged with manslaughter.
Police said Monday the autopsy and toxicology reports revealed that the infant, Hanna Boulette, died of high levels of fentanyl intoxication.
According to police, the girl’s father, 38-year-old Garry Daniel Adrian Bruce, initially called 911 on March 23, 2023, as Hanna was unresponsive.
Despite efforts from paramedics at the scene to revive her, she was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Police said there was a small amount of fentanyl found in Bruce’s possession at the scene, and he and the child’s mother — 37-year-old Sabrina Faye Boulette — were charged with criminal negligence causing death.
Through the course of the investigation, police said they learned that the parents had omitted details when speaking to police, and had been aware of Hanna’s fentanyl exposure before calling 911.
“The amount of time that had passed from when the parents were aware of the child’s fentanyl exposure to when 911 was called was certainly a factor that may have played in the child’s death,” Const. Claude Chancy said.
On Friday, police arrested Bruce and Boulette at their home in north Winnipeg and both were charged with manslaughter, after consultation with prosecutors.
Chancy said this type of situation is all too familiar for police.
“Very recently, I believe it was in the beginning of January, we had a child ingestion of fentanyl incident. In that particular case, again, it was in the household, and that child was a two-year-old male,” he said.
“Same thing — ingestion of fentanyl that was readily accessible.”
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