Winnipeg teen assault victim taken off life support

WINNIPEG — The 15-year-old girl who was seriously assaulted while in CFS care at the beginning of April was taken off life support Wednesday.

READ MORE: Winnipeg police reveal earlier call in serious assault

Global News spoke with a family member who confirmed that she was taken off life support two weeks after the brutal attack.

Derek Nepinak, chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said the girl’s family gathered at the hospital and made the agonizing decision Wednesday.

The family was at her bedside and has asked for privacy, he said.

“They are at her bedside now in a heartbreaking situation,” Nepinak said Wednesday night.

The 15-year-old was in Child and Family Services’ care at a downtown hotel. She was found in critical condition a few blocks away from the hotel at a parkade shortly after 5 a.m. on April 1.

A 15-year-old boy flagged them down at Hargrave Street and St. Mary Avenue, police said. That boy was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and aggravated sexual assault the following day. He was also in CFS care and staying at the same hotel as the girl, who knew him.

READ MORE: Boy, 15, charged in attack on girl in CFS care

Manitoba Child and Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross fought back tears at a hastily called afternoon news conference on April 1 to announce that all kids in CFS care living in hotels would be moved to safer locations by June 1.

Manitoba has about 10,000 children in care. The vast majority are aboriginal. On any given day, dozens of those children are put up in hotels because there isn’t room in a foster or group home.

The provincial government has been under fire for housing foster children in hotels for 15 years.

Manitoba’s Children’s Advocate has released several critical reports about the practice since 2000, urging the government to find better alternatives.

— With files from The Canadian Press