Canadian government sets up probe of switched at birth case

WINNIPEG (Manitoba) — The Canadian government is setting up a third-party investigation after DNA evidence indicated two men from a northern Manitoba indigenous community were switched at birth.

David Tait Junior was born three days after Leon Swanson in the winter of 1975 at the Norway House Indian Hospital in the western Canadian province.

For years, people in the tiny northern Manitoba community had gossiped about why the two men didn’t look much like their parents.

The two say they were devastated after learning that they’ve been calling the wrong people their family for decades.

The government believes it’s the second case of being switched at birth at the hospital. Health Minister Jane Philpott says it’s an unfortunate reminder of how urgent the need is to provide Indigenous people with better health care. AP