A7

By STEVE LAMBERT
The Canadian Press

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WINNIPEG - A father whose children were seized after one showed up at school with racist drawings on her skin has never managed to hold down a steady job or rent his own apartment, a courtroom was told Thursday.

Under cross-examination by Manitoba Child and Family Services lawyer Kris Janovcik, the father admitted to working only a few months each year, performing manual labour for different companies and sometimes filing for workers compensation benefits.

"You don't work and you don't know the last time you worked," Janovcik told the father.

"Do you call that stability, taking responsibility?"

The government department is asking a Court of Queen's Bench judge for permanent custody of two children who were seized last year after the eldest attended her elementary school with racist slogans and symbols drawn on her skin in permanent marker.

The father is fighting the move, saying he has a constitutional right to raise his children according to his beliefs.

While much of the evidence so far has focused on allegations that the children were being taught to hate minorities, Thursday's proceedings dealt with the department's other concerns - that the children were being raised in squalor by parents who worked infrequently and abused drugs and alcohol.

"You haven't demonstrated in the last 16 months that you can live on your own and (support yourself)," Janovcik said.

"I disagree," the father replied. "To me, I've done a lot."

The father has been living with his parents since the children were seized.

Before that he bunked with friends or relatives and shared an apartment with his now-estranged wife, which was subsidized by family members.

The father had admitted to using heroin and other drugs in the past, but has told the court he has been drug-free for years.

His words were backed up by a psychologist who testified Thursday that the man could become a "motivated" parent and seems serious about providing a good home for the children.