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Relatives chanted “no justice, no peace,” as they filed out of court.

The plea came a day after Edmonton’s interim police chief made public a letter from his force to Alberta’s justice ministry saying it was aware of the plea deal and urging the Crown to call it off.

The letter challenges the traditional firewall that separates police, who investigate a case, from prosecutors, who determine how best to proceed with the case in court.

The letter says a significantly reduced sentence that typically comes with a manslaughter conviction would fail to see justice done in the killing.

It also warns if a plea deal goes through police would release more details of the case so the public can form its own opinion.

The courtroom filled with the sobs following the manslaughter plea, as a prosecutor read an agreed statement of facts detailing chronic abuse and neglect the victim suffered while in the care of the accused.

The girl, who can’t be identified because of a publication ban, lived with the woman from September 2022 until her death from blunt force head trauma in April 2023.

Court heard the woman, who also can’t be identified. was drinking alcohol and using methamphetamine the night the girl died. 

The Crown said the girl was found lying on the floor bleeding next to a hole in the wall, but it’s not known how she sustained her head injury.

The accused didn’t call 911 and instead phoned acquaintances for help. 

The child’s body was later found in a hockey bag in the back of a truck on the Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis, south of Edmonton.

An autopsy showed she had multiple broken bones that had previously healed. She had also been suffering from sepsis because of an untreated infected tooth, which reduced her chances of surviving the head injury.

“That’s not manslaughter!” yelled some of the girl’s family as the details were read.

Later outside court, an aunt of the victim said a manslaughter plea is unacceptable.

“We don’t feel like justice was served here today,” she said. “We are broken, we are devastated, and we feel like we have been silenced for the past two years.”

Other family members said they trust the police and appreciate what they’re doing.

“They’re our voice right now,” said one relative.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she’s glad the police tried to intervene.

“I think that if the Crown prosecution service declines to prosecute or take things to trial, they need to go public with their reasons, so that people understand why they feel that there was not a reasonable likelihood of conviction,” Smith said at an unrelated event in Calgary.

“People want to see that people are going to be punished to the maximum capable under the law, and sometimes that can only happen with a trial.”

Prosecutor Terry Hofmann told court public commentary on the case could prejudice the right to a fair trial for other accused.

In total, five people were charged in relation to the girl’s death.

Two men pleaded guilty this summer to causing an indignity to a body and were sentenced to nearly three years. They were given credit for time served and released.

Two others are charged with being an accessory to murder and causing an indignity to a body.

Shawn King, president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association, has called the police letter essentially an “extortion tactic.”

“This is extremely inappropriate,” the defence lawyer said Tuesday. “They’re in charge of doing these criminal investigations and handing the evidence over to the Crown prosecutor to deal with it unbiasedly.

“And now the police are directly interfering with the Crown’s authority to proceed as they see fit, like they’re quasi-ministers of justice.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2025.

— With files from Matthew Scace in Calgary