ManitobaAll charges against the owners of a foster agency accused of giving cannabis to children in care were stayed after a plea bargain was reached that saw the organization — Spirit Rising House — plead guilty and pay a $35,000 fine.Spirt Rising House, as an organization, pleaded guilty and received $35K fineKristin Annable · CBC News · Posted: Oct 21, 2025 4:24 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours agoThe owners of Spirit Rising House, a foster agency in Winnipeg, were charged in September 2024 with distributing illicit cannabis and providing cannabis to a young person. Those charges were stayed on Tuesday. (David Donnelly/CBC)All charges against the owners of a foster agency that gave cannabis to children in care were stayed Tuesday, after a plea bargain was reached that saw the organization — Spirit Rising House — plead guilty and pay a $35,000 fine.John Bennett, Christine Ormiston, Ian Rabb and Kelli Register — the owners of Spirit Rising House — were charged in September 2024 with distributing illicit cannabis and providing cannabis to a young person.Charges against three others who worked for the agency were also stayed on Tuesday.”Significant discussions” led the federal Crown and lawyers for Spirit Rising House to reach a joint recommendation, court heard.Spirit Rising House, the corporation, pleaded guilty under the federal Cannabis Act to distributing cannabis as an organization. Spirit Rising House was a Winnipeg-based for-profit company that ran foster homes and two specialized group homes for 34 high-risk youth in Child and Family Services care.It closed in March 2024 after an internal investigation by Southeast Child and Family Services found at-risk children in the company’s care were being given cannabis as a means of harm reduction. The agreed statement of facts, read in court by federal Crown attorney Alana Parashin, said the four owners each had a 25 per cent share in Spirit Rising House.Winnipeg police began investigating the homes in February following Southeast’s investigation, and several search warrants were executed. “The evidence collected established that Spirit Rising House was supplying cannabis both illicit and dispensary to youth in their care to manage their behaviour,” the agreed statement of facts said.Ormiston, Bennett and Register “endorsed” this form of harm reduction and supplied cannabis to several homes, Parashin said.Rabb was aware staff were providing cannabis to the children in care, court heard. Staff were told by the owners that they had permission from Child and Family Services to give cannabis to the youth, but that “was not true,” court heard. Two of the 34 youth had a medical prescription for cannabis. Provincial court Judge Kusham Sharma asked the Crown what factors went into recommending a fine of $35,000.”I don’t think there is evidence that individuals who were operating this organization were intending to hurt anyone,” Parashin said.”I think they went about it the wrong way.”Parashin said they didn’t consult with a physician or provide a treatment program for the youth.Richard Wolson, one of the lawyers for Spirit Rising House, said the fine will be paid by the end of the day from a cheque that has been held in trust. “It was the intention of this corporation to do well for the youth that they had,” Wolson told the judge, and they wanted to prevent the youth from going to the streets for harder drugs. “These were some high-risk children. They had addictions. The streets were dangerous to them.”Sharma accepted the joint recommendation. ABOUT THE AUTHORKristin Annable is a member of CBC’s investigative unit based in Winnipeg. She has won several RTDNAs for her work, including a national RTDNA for her investigation into deaths in police custody. She can be reached at kristin.annable@cbc.ca.
Foster home fined $35K for giving cannabis to kids in care, charges against owners stayed
