Manitoba premier apologizes to two men switched at birth decades ago

By The Canadian Press on March 21, 2024.

Eddy Ambrose, a Manitoba man who was switched at birth, looks at photos of the parents who raised him, James and Katherine Ambrose, and his biological parents, Laurette and Camille Beauvais, at his home in Winnipeg, Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. Ambrose and Richard Beauvais are to receive an apology from the Manitoba government. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG – Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew formally apologized Thursday to two men who were switched at birth in a hospital almost 70 years ago.

Kinew, in a speech to the legislature, called it a terrible wrong that cannot be undone but must be acknowledged and atoned for.

“Ed and Richard are here today as two people wronged by the Manitoba government and the institutions they should have been able to trust,” said Kinew as Edward Ambrose and Richard Beauvais sat nearby in the chamber.

“They were wronged from the very first day each of them arrived here on Earth.

“For these things we are sorry.”

The premier said the men were denied connection to their families, and their parents were denied their children.

The two men were born in a municipally run hospital in Arborg, Man., in 1955 and sent home with each other’s parents.

The truth came to light decades later, after one of them took an at-home DNA ancestry test.