Manitoba premier Wab Kinew, left, welcomes Richard Beauvais, centre, and Edward Ambrose, right, to his office in the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg on March 21, 2024. Mr. Ambrose and Mr. Beauvais were born in a municipally run hospital in Arborg, Man., in 1955 and were sent home with each other's parents.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
The Manitoba government has officially apologized in the legislature to two men who were switched at birth nearly seven decades ago, a couple of days after they met face-to-face for the first time in a Winnipeg hotel lobby.
On Tuesday, Richard Beauvais had just flown in from Sechelt, B.C., with his daughter when Eddy Ambrose strode in out of the cold and outstretched a chilly hand. The two men embraced in a somewhat awkward back-thumping hug, and then sat and spoke together for the first time – about their shared love of tractors, their mutual dislike of turkeys and the mischief they got up to as youngsters.
“The more I look at him, I see dad. I see him. It’s like having him here with me,” said Mr. Ambrose as he stared at Mr. Beauvais, his eyes glassy with tears.
At the provincial legislature on Thursday, Premier Wab Kinew delivered an emotional apology to the two men, who discovered in 2022 that they had been switched at birth at a small hospital in Arborg, north of Winnipeg, in 1955. For the past two years, they had been fighting for answers from the Manitoba government and for the province to acknowledge the hospital’s mistake.
Last year, The Globe and Mail published an exclusive story about the switch that led them to be estranged from their biological families and heritage for 68 years.
“What happened to you cannot be undone. But it must be acknowledged. It must be addressed. And it must be atoned for,” Mr. Kinew said to the two men as they sat on the chamber floor of the legislature, eyes cast down, their families looking on from the gallery.
“On behalf of the Manitoba Government, we sincerely apologize for our failure to care for you. To protect you. To ensure that you would grow up with the love of the families who welcomed you into this world.”
A hospital’s mistake left two men estranged from their heritages. Now they fight for answers
Mr. Kinew also promised to provide financial compensation and to look into whether a broader investigation into other such hospital mistakes in the province is needed. This is the third case to come to light after two instances at a hospital in Norway House were discovered in 2015 and 2016.
On Thursday, the Premier further apologized to the men’s biological parents who died long ago – Camille and Laurette Beauvais, and James and Kathleen Ambrose – and to the men’s children and grandchildren, “for depriving them, for so many years, of their rightful inheritance, culture, identity and family.”
The Premier acknowledged the differences in the men’s two families: Mr. Ambrose was raised by Ukrainian parents in the rural farming town of Rembrandt, while Mr. Beauvais was raised by his mother and grandparents, alongside six siblings in the Métis community of St. Laurent.
On Tuesday, Mr. Ambrose had shared stories about the quiet love of the man he referred to as “our dad,” a farmer, general store owner and postmaster in Rembrandt. Mr. Ambrose told Mr. Beauvais he wanted him to have his father’s antique postmaster desk, currently at the Ambrose home in Winnipeg, so he can have a piece of the biological father he never knew.
“I had the time to share the love with dad and I have so much memory of him,” Mr. Ambrose said. “I would feel proud to give that desk to Richard. It would be an honour for me to do that.”
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew apologized on March 21 to two men who were switched at birth at a hospital in 1955. Edward Ambrose and Richard Beauvais only discovered their true identities a few years ago, and were invited to the legislature to hear the premier’s remarks.
The Canadian Press
Much pain has been brought to the surface by the revelation, which Mr. Ambrose’s sister began sleuthing out in 2021 after observing an unknown biological brother in an ancestry DNA test. The tragedy is something they say can never be erased, even though they are relieved and thankful for the Premier’s apology.
“It touched me,” said Mr. Ambrose, with his sister, Evelyn Stocki, son Kurt, daughter Eileen, and her son, Tyrell Trinidad, alongside Mr. Beauvais and his family outside the legislative chambers on Thursday. “That was very, very, very close to my heart.”
Mr. Beauvais, who had previously questioned why he would travel all this way to hear an apology from someone who had nothing to do with the life-altering mistake, said he was moved by the Premier’s speech. At the hotel earlier in the week, Mr. Beauvais, a fishing captain, spoke about how the discovery has made him think about some of the emotions he buried as a child, opening wounds he didn’t know were there.
He attended residential day school for Indigenous children, cared for his younger siblings on his own, foraged for food at the local dump and stole cucumbers with his sister from a neighbour’s garden to curb their hunger. The memory of government workers forcibly taking him and his siblings during the Sixties Scoop from his home in the Métis community of St. Laurent is still raw when he allows himself to think about it.
“I wanted to go home. I wanted to see my brothers and sisters. I remember crying behind the barn,” Mr. Beauvais said about when he first arrived at a foster home. He eventually formed a lifelong bond with that foster family, the Pools of Eriksdale. His daughter, Taryn Beauvais, his foster sister, Judy Dunn, and her husband, Maurice Dunn, were at the legislature on Thursday to support him.
After the Premier’s apology, the men’s lawyer, Bill Gange, met with justice officials and presented what he believes is a fair proposal for compensation, based on his experience working out settlements with the federal government for families involved in the two Norway House cases.
“They were very respectful, and it’s clear that they want to resolve it,” Mr. Gange told The Globe in an interview.
The previous government of Manitoba had denied any responsibility for the mistake and ignored pleas from the men for answers and redress for nearly two years. After the apology, Mr. Kinew said he’s committed to doing right by the men and their families.
“These two men have been through a lot, and I want to respect their journey. But I did tell them as part of the conversation today, ‘We’ll be there for the next steps.’”