WINNIPEG -- The woman who was called "nana-mom" by a Manitoba girl bounced in and out of foster care before she was murdered says the five-year-old's death cannot be in vain.
Kim Edwards, who looked after Phoenix Sinclair during part of her short life, told an inquiry into the girl's death that her legacy must be one of hope and renewal.
All children in Manitoba are entitled to protection, but the same privilege shouldn't be given to the social workers who failed Phoenix, Edwards said in her final submission Monday.
"The time for excuses must end with your report," an emotional Edwards told Commissioner Ted Hughes.
"Our Phoenix will create a safer and better life for many other vulnerable children in Manitoba. Her legacy will renew the child-welfare system. All children must be equal under the law.
"We believe the purpose of Phoenix's senseless death was to change the system in a fundamental and positive way for all children in Manitoba and across this great nation."
Hughes is examining how Phoenix slipped through the cracks and how her death at the hands of her mother and mother's boyfriend went undiscovered for months.
Final submissions are scheduled to wrap up next week and a report is expected by December.
The inquiry, which began last year, has heard from 126 witnesses and is estimated to be one of the most expensive inquiries in Manitoba's history.
Phoenix was killed by her mother, Samantha Kematch, and her stepfather, Karl McKay, after repeated and horrific abuse. Both were convicted of first-degree murder in 2008.
The pair neglected, confined and beat Phoenix. She died of her extensive injuries on the cold basement floor of the couple's home on the Fisher River reserve in 2005. She was buried in a shallow grave by the community dump while Kematch continued to collect child subsidy cheques.
"Phoenix's mother and stepfather murdered her," Edwards said. "Many people knew of the abuse, watched while the abuse unfolded. Many people knew of the murder yet they said and did nothing."
Phoenix was taken by Child and Family Services at least twice during her lifetime -- once at birth and again three years later -- but she was returned to her mother each time.
Although Edwards and Phoenix's biological father Steve Sinclair knew the child best, Edwards said their voice has been "reduced to a whisper."
"She wasn't forgotten," Edwards said as she tearfully talked about the beautiful, vibrant brown-eyed girl. "She was not like one of my children. She was one of my children."
Despite her young age, Phoenix knew too much, Edwards said.
"When you looked into her eyes, you saw an old soul."
The commission's mandate is to determine the circumstances surrounding Phoenix's death and to make recommendations for improving child welfare in Manitoba.
Hughes thanked Edwards and assured her Phoenix's legacy will be a positive one.
"The prime and driving force behind this inquiry is to bring in recommendations that will make some fundamental changes and bring a positive lifestyle for children in Manitoba over and above what it has been," he said.
