WINNIPEG - Officials have confirmed that an 11-year-old boy presumed dead in a house fire on a remote northern Manitoba reserve was in foster care.
His death is raising questions about the province's child welfare system, because RCMP were told only two days after the deadly fire that he was missing.
The blaze that erupted Saturday on the Shamattawa reserve also killed another person who has not been identified.
RCMP originally believed no one died, because the homeowners were found safe elsewhere.
But relatives eventually realized the boy - a grandson of the homeowners - was missing, and his remains were found Tuesday.
Child welfare officials say proper protocols were followed, but there may have been a miscommunication between the boy's foster home and his grandparents.
