Teddy bears and other stuffies were placed around a sacred fire lit for Xavia Butler on Memorial Boulevard on Friday, in memory of the little girl whose remains were found in an Interlake barn.
Community members started the fire one week after RCMP identified Xavia, a young member of Pinaymootang First Nation, as the infant at the centre of a homicide investigation near Gypsumville.
The spiritual sendoff was originally going to be held in private.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Michelle Houle, from left, Natalie Anderson, and Sage Kent, talk about their plan to stay in Memorial Park for the weekend as a spiritual sendoff for Xavia, the little girl whose remains were found in an Interlake barn on June 3.
“We decided to move the fire from somewhere intimate to somewhere public so everybody could join and recognize baby’s spirit and try and bring healing to all Indigenous children and (caregiver agreement) issues,” said Sage Kent, a mother who reached out to support Xavia’s former caregiver after hearing about the tragedy.
Xavia’s partial remains were found in an old barn next to Highway 6 in the Rural Municipality of Grahamdale, about 250 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, on June 3.
The infant — who RCMP said was living with her biological family on a property neighbouring the barn, which has a different owner — is believed to have been about one to two years old when she died.
RCMP continues to investigate what happened to the toddler who was never reported missing. No charges have been laid.
Natalie Anderson, who organized the sacred fire for the girl she considered her own, said she wants Xavia’s story to “save other kids” and spark change so caregiving contracts made between Indigenous women are respected.
Anderson, 36, said she and Xavia’s birth mother, her cousin, had an agreement that she would raise the girl as her own.
There was no formal Child and Family Services or adoption arrangement so when authorities were made aware of the set-up, Xavia was returned to her birth mother after nine months in Anderson’s care, she said.
“They had no right to take her. They had no reason to take her. I want Xavia’s face known, her story known, her name known. She deserves justice,” Anderson said, adding she last saw Xavia in person on March 17, 2022.
The former caregiver plans to camp in a tent beside the sacred fire, set up on the northwest lawn of the Manitoba Legislative Building, until after the long weekend.
A spokesperson for Manitoba Justice said legislature staff are co-ordinating with organizers and participants to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
A representative from Crazy Indians Brotherhood, a national support group for Indigenous men, took his five-year-old son to the sacred fire on Friday.
“Trying to explain to a child that another child was hurt is a difficult thing to do, but it has to be done because that’s planting the seeds for change, in my opinion,” said the man, who identified himself as “REW” and a member of Dog Creek First Nation.
Sharmane Moneas showed up to the sacred fire in a ribbon skirt with a drum in hand.
Moneas said she felt compelled to show her support as a First Nations mother who has first-hand experience with the foster care system and because of her incredible sadness after hearing Xavia’s story.
“Leaders need to take more accountability in terms of providing more services and programs to families and ways that they can deal with the trauma and the intergenerational trauma that has occurred,” she said, noting the historic removal of Indigenous children from their families via residential schools and the Sixties Scoop.
All members of the public are invited to the sacred fire to honour Xavia and donate food, water and campfire supplies to keep it burning until midday Tuesday.
On Nov. 1, RCMP appealed to members of the public to share any photos of the girl taken after March 2022.
Spokesman Sgt. Paul Manaigre said Friday he was not in a position to provide specifics on the information investigators have received since then.
Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., Maggie was an intern at the Free Press twice while earning her degree at Ryerson’s School of Journalism (now Toronto Metropolitan University) before joining the newsroom as a reporter in 2019. Read more about Maggie.
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