Best Friends Find Out They Were Switched At Birth At Canadian Hospital
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (CBSNewYork/AP) -- For years, people in the tiny community had gossiped about why the two men didn't look much like their parents.
The two men -- David Tait Jr. and Leon Swanson -- say they were devastated after learning that they have been calling the wrong people their family for decades. Tait said at a tearful news conference on Friday that he wants answers.
"I want answers," Tait Jr. said. "I want answers."
CBS2's Magdalena Doris reported the two were born three days apart in 1975.
The government believes it's the second case of being switched at birth to occur at the hospital. Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said it's an unfortunate reminder of how urgent the need is to provide Indigenous First Nation people with better health care.
Andrew Mackendrick, a spokesman for Philpott, confirmed the plans for a third-party review on Sunday. Philpott said she was deeply troubled to learn of the second case and her department has offered the full range of mental and spiritual support.
The department has been working to review files and historical documents from the hospital during the time period in question.
"Given these latest developments, the department will be moving quickly to engage the services of an independent third party to do a dedicated and thorough investigation of all available hospital records from the period to determine what happened and whether there is any other cause for concern beyond the two cases identified," the minister said in a statement.
DNA evidence has confirmed that Tait Jr., 41, is the son of Charlotte Mason -- the woman who raised Swanson as her son -- and not Frances Tait. Further DNA tests are expected to show that Swanson, Tait Jr.'s life-long friend, is the biological son of Frances Tait, the men said.
"When I was about 20 years old, people teased us about being switched," Swanson said.
Last November, two men from the nearby Garden Hill First Nation community, Luke Monias and Norman Barkman, discovered through DNA tests that they were also switched at birth at the same hospital in 1975.
Manitoba's former aboriginal affairs minister Eric Robinson has called the mistakes criminal.
"The first can be discounted as a mistake," Robinson said. "A second time, in my view, is a criminal activity."
CBS2's Magdalena Doris reported Swanson and Tait Jr. now feel more like family and they said they wouldn't change their situation.
"They'll always be my mom and dad, regardless. They raised me. They take me from day one," Tait Jr. said.
Since discovering two sets of babies who were switched at birth, investigators said they're being inundated with requests for DNA tests from other families.
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