The Much Awaited Report is Here

December 16, 2013 PROVINCE RECEIVES PHOENIX SINCLAIR INQUIRY REPORT Manitoba Justice advises the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Phoenix Sinclair were received today and said the report will be made public early in 2014, following a thorough review by the government. The Hughes inquiry sat for 91 days, hearing testimony from 126 witnesses. Phoenix Victoria Hope Sinclair was born April 23, 2000. She was killed on the Fisher River First Nation in June 2005. Her body was not found until March of 2006. On Dec. 12, 2008, her mother Samantha Kematch and her common-law husband Karl McKay were convicted of first-degree murder in her death. Beginning in 2006, a series of reviews was conducted into the death of Sinclair. Those reviews resulted in the development of 295 recommendations, of which 95 per cent have already been fully implemented, the department said. On March 25, 2011, the province announced that Ted Hughes would conduct an inquiry to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of Sinclair and in particular to inquire into: •the child-welfare services provided or not provided to Sinclair and her family under the Child and Family Services Act; •any other circumstances, apart from the delivery of child-welfare services, directly related to the death of Sinclair; and •why the death remained undiscovered for several months. - 30 -