‘I want answers’: 41-year-old men learn they were switched at birth

The two boys were born three days apart in 1975.

Leon Swanson and David Tait Jr. went on to grow up in the same remote Canadian community. They were best friends, having sleepovers and spending countless hours together.

But there was always something strange about the two friends: They each looked like the other’s parents more than their own. And this week, they found out why there was such a striking resemblance.

They were sent home with the wrong families from the hospital over 40 years ago.

“We don’t have words,” Tait said. “Forty years gone ... I want answers. I want answers so bad.”

Swanson and Tait discovered they weren’t raised by their biological parents after taking a DNA test. They were prompted to verify their identities when two other men born at the same hospital discovered they had been switched at birth.

Both members of the Manitoba First Nation, Swanson and Tait were born at Norway House Indian Hospital, Swanson on January 31, 1975 and Tait on February 3, 1975. The government-run hospital mistakenly sent the babies home with the wrong family.

“We were just lucky enough to be hanging out with each other the whole time and we still have that bond today,” Tait said. “We were family from the beginning, I guess. We just didn’t know it ‘til now.”

Canadian authorities are calling the incident “criminal” and are opening an investigation into the cause of the switch.

"Given these latest developments, the department will be moving quickly to engage the services of an independent third party to do a dedicated and thorough investigation of all available hospital records from the period to determine what happened and whether there is any other cause for concern beyond the two cases identified," Canadian Health Minister Jane Philpott said in a statement Friday.

Last year, Luke Monias and Norman Barkman, discovered they had been sent home with the wrong families from Norway House Indian Hospital, also in 1975. That case led Chief of Norway House Cree Nation Ron Evans to call on members of the community to come forward if they were suspicious something similar may have happened in their families.

This story was originally published August 26, 2016 at 4:52 PM with the headline "‘I want answers’: 41-year-old men learn they were switched at birth."