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Names sealed for killer's kin

Publication ban at Phoenix inquiry

By: Carol Sanders

Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2013 at 9:36 AM | Comments: 0

Publicly identifying relatives of child-killer Karl Wesley McKay when they testify at the inquiry into the death of Phoenix Sinclair would only "victimize" them further, commissioner Ted Hughes said Tuesday.

"These individuals will be able to carry on their daily lives -- their employment and schooling -- without the stigma of being identified as a relative of Karl Wesley McKay," said Hughes.

He granted the publication ban requested by McKay's former spouse, two sons and a grown daughter. The sons and their mother, who testified at the 2008 murder trial of McKay and Phoenix's mother Samantha Kematch, said they were harassed when it became public he was charged with the 2005 murder of his five-year-old stepdaughter.

Intertribal Child and Family Services and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs fought the relatives' request for a publication ban. Lawyers for the child-welfare agency and the Manitoba chiefs said there was no legal justification to ban publication of their identities. They said there was no proof McKay's ex-spouse and kids had been harassed because of their connection to him. They said they were already publicly identified when they testified at the criminal trial. The commissioner wouldn't allow a publication ban to protect the identities of social workers involved in Phoenix's case and shouldn't grant one for McKay's relatives, either, they said.

Hughes disagreed. The social workers testifying at the inquiry are being asked about the work they did or didn't do with respect to the handling of the CFS file on Phoenix Sinclair and her family. The context is different with McKay's relatives, he said.

"These individuals are not being called on to give evidence about work they performed," said Hughes. McKay's relatives are being called on to testify about their relationship to him and what they saw happening in the home with Phoenix.

The media, which challenged the social workers' request for a publication ban, didn't challenge the request by McKay's family members.

Unlike the social workers, the relatives of McKay provided affidavits spelling out their concerns and their reasons for them, Hughes said.

"... Based on direct affidavit evidence, I find there is a risk to their personal health or safety from having their identities made public in the context of their inquiry testimony."

In affidavits, McKay's sons and ex-wife said no one they work or go to school with now knows their connection to McKay. They fear being publicly identified at the high-profile inquiry will put their mental health and safety at risk. McKay's grown daughter said in her affidavit her children are too young to be told the identity of their grandfather, and she doesn't want them to find out by her being identified in the media.

McKay and Kematch were convicted in 2008 of first-degree murder in the death of Phoenix. The province in 2011 announced plans for an inquiry into her death and how she slipped through Manitoba's child-welfare safety net.

When McKay's relatives testify this spring at the inquiry that began in the fall, it will be by video only the commissioner can see but everyone at the hearing will be able to hear. Their names won't be made public.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

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