Foster dad charged with murder

Man accused in death of foster son

CHRIS KITCHING

SUN MEDIA

WINNIPEG -- RCMP have laid second-degree murder charges against a 29-year-old man in the death of his 13-month-old foster son in northern Manitoba last fall.

The foster parent, Roderick (Rod) Tobie Blacksmith, was arrested near Cross Lake yesterday and is in custody, RCMP said.

Police did not reveal how Blacksmith's foster son, Cameron Ouskan, died last November.

An autopsy confirmed Ouskan -- who was in the care of Awasis Agency -- was the victim of a homicide, RCMP said.

The Children's Advocate and Awasis are reviewing Ouskan's case to determine if the child welfare system failed him.

LIFE-THREATENING

Ouskan was taken to Gillam Hospital on Nov. 12, 2008, in life-threatening condition. He was transferred to Thompson hospital, where he died a day later.

Ouskan was removed from the foster home due to a different set of injuries he suffered last August and then returned to the home a few weeks before his death.

Awasis returned Ouskan to the home because investigations by the agency and RCMP found no evidence of child abuse, officials say.

"All the necessary checks were completed," said Marie Lands, CEO of the First Nations of Northern Manitoba Child and Family Services Authority.

RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish said the serious crime unit will revisit the earlier case in light of the homicide.

"We're going to go back and take another look at it to (determine if) there is anything that may suggest it was child abuse," Karpish said.

Ouskan lived most of his short life in the foster home in Gillam, about 1,000 km north of Winnipeg.

BACKGROUND CHECKS

Lands previously said she had "no particular details" about any complaints or concerns made to Awasis about Ouskan or his foster family prior to his death.

She said proper background checks on the foster parents were done and procedures maintained while the boy was in the aboriginal child welfare agency's care.

Lands said the case met "foundational standards." Those standards include monthly visits, child abuse registry checks and criminal record checks.

Ouskan is one of several foster children to die in care in recent years.

The most infamous death is likely that of five-year-old Phoenix Sinclair, who died of prolonged abuse after she was returned to her mom, Samantha Kematch, and Kematch's common-law husband, Karl McKay, in 2005.

Kematch and McKay are appealing first-degree murder convictions.