ManitobaOver half of the serious injuries investigated by a Manitoba advocacy organization for children and youth involved drugs and alcohol, a new report says.Annual report says over half of serious injury reviews involved drugs, alcoholCBC News · Posted: Oct 29, 2025 5:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesSherry Gott, Manitoba’s advocate for children and youth, says there isn’t enough resource co-ordination in the youth addictions system to help young people who need it. (CBC)Over half of the serious injuries investigated by the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth involved drugs and alcohol, a new report says.MACY’s annual report says 55 of the 95 serious injury reviews completed in the 2024-25 fiscal year involved drugs and alcohol as a secondary factor of the injury, representing 58 per cent of reviews.Sherry Gott, the Manitoba advocate, said there’s a “lack of strategy” when it comes to dealing with young people who struggle with mental health and substance use in the province.”We are hoping that there is a strategy developed sooner rather than later,” Gott told guest host Laurie Hoogstraten in an interview on CBC Manitoba’s Radio Noon on Wednesday.Gott said there isn’t enough resource co-ordination in the youth addictions system to help the young people who need it. She hopes the province will use her report to transform the system and improve access.”That is a huge concern for us, and it has been ongoing for quite some time now.”Manitoba Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith said the province is working to expand “Huddle” youth hubs — where young people can access free, trauma-informed and culturally competent health services — to parts of northern and south-central Manitoba.The program currently runs in Winnipeg, Selkirk and Brandon, she said.”I know that there are gaps, and there’s lots of work to do,” she told reporters outside the legislature after Wednesday’s question period.Nearly 90 per cent of the serious injury reviews were for an Indigenous adult, youth or child, the report says.The report also says 48 of the 95 serious injury reviews completed over the last fiscal year were primarily classified as sexual assaults, representing 51 per cent of those reviews. It says 27 of the 48 reviewed injury cases (28 per cent) involved sexual assault by an unknown person, while 21 of the 48 (22 per cent) involved sexual assault by someone they knew.Self harm or suicide attempts were behind 19 per cent of serious injury reviews. Penetrating wounds — which can include gunshot and stab wounds, or wounds that required stitches — represented 34 per cent of serious injury reviews.Child deathsThe report says a total of 86 comprehensive child death reviews were completed in 2024-25, including 40 deaths where the cause was undetermined.Some of those deaths can be attributed to sleep-related infant deaths or drug overdoses, Gott said.The number of reported deaths of children, youth or young adults in the province is down for the third year in a row. The advocate reported 206 death notifications in 2024-25, which is down from 215 in 2022-23 and 237 in 2023-24.”Any time a child dies in Manitoba, it’s tragic,” Gott said.When a child, youth or young adult under the age of 21 dies in Manitoba, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner informs the advocate’s office of the death, the report says.If the child, youth, young adult or their family had contact with child welfare services, youth mental health, youth addiction services or the youth justice system in the year before the death, the advocate may review and investigate public services delivered to the youth or the family.The report says 74 of the 206 death notifications received in 2024-25 were in the scope for a review, which means the child or youth was receiving a reviewable service.
‘Lack of strategy’ to tackle youth addictions, mental health issues in Manitoba: child advocate
