WINNIPEG — The mother of two children who were seized from their home after her seven-year-old daughter came to school with a swastika and other markings on her body says she tried to remove the swastika.
“I tried to wipe off the swastika on my daughter’s arm before she went to school. I tried with a baby wipe and then nail polish remover. I guess I could have tried harder,” she said in a telephone interview with The CJN.
The mother said she kicked out her husband, whom she said drew the swastika on the child, once she was served with court documents containing allegations against her by Winnipeg’s Child and Family Services (CFS).
“I didn’t understand why the school would be so alarmed. Then I saw things [in the documentation from CFS] that my daughter had said [to school officials]. My daughter was talking about a good way to kill a nigger. These aren’t things I told her. These would have been things my husband told her,” the mother said.
She added: “[My husband] never worked, so he was home with the kids. These are things that he said. I wasn’t at home to hear them… There was also a drinking issue. He [my husband] was drinking and was able to hide it from me for a good period of time.”
The mother said that she learned from CFS that in addition to the swastika, her daughter had the white supremacist tag of “14/88” on her body when she went to school.
The number 14 refers to a familiar slogan containing 14 words: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The 88 represents the letters “HH” (H is the eighth letter of the alphabet), which stands for “Heil Hitler.”
The mother, who wears a silver necklace with an etching of a swastika around her neck, also told The CJN: “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know what [the tag “14/88”] means.”
She also said that her original lawyer “dropped both me and my husband. I don’t know why.”
She added: “I have new legal counsel but I would rather not say who… I think that my ex-husband is getting a lawyer from legal aid.”
The mother’s former lawyer, John Ramsay, did not return calls and his secretary said he is not speaking to the media.
The mother said she is hopeful that an agreement will be arrived at with CFS for the children to be returned to her home gradually, and at first on weekends.
“I know that the CFS social worker is backing me and is not backing [my husband]… Slow integration of the kids back into my home would be the best for everybody,” she said.
August Kreis III, the leader of the Aryan Nations, based in South Carolina, told the Winnipeg Free Press that his organization is offering to provide the mother and her husband financial, legal and other resources in their efforts to get their children back. The Free Press also reported that the words “Aryan Pride” were marked on the seven-year-old’s body.
Debra Poskar, legal counsel for the CFS said she couldn’t comment on the case, because it’s before the courts.
The case was next scheduled to be heard in child protection court on June 23.
