WINNIPEG - The grandfather of one of two children at the centre of a controversial custody battle told a court yesterday he was "furious" at learning of allegations his son was a white supremacist.

The man said he learned of the allegations at a March 26, 2006 meeting with Child and Family Services, one day after the agency seized his grandson and the boy's half-sister.

"I was really, really mad at my son. I've been mad at him before but that hit a new high," he said.

The province seized a now eight-year-old girl and her three-year-old half-brother last year after the girl was sent to school with a swastika and racist writings drawn on her body. CFS is seeking permanent guardianship of the children.

CFS says the young boy's father has a history of drug and alcohol abuse and has made no effort to seek treatment.

The grandfather said he had previously had a good relationship with CFS, having been a foster parent several years earlier. He said he became frustrated with the agency when it denied him and his wife visitations with the children while allowing their maternal grandmother to care for them on weekends.

The man said he has had a troubled relationship with his son but has watched him slowly turn his life around since moving back in with his parents following the seizure of his son and stepdaughter and the dissolution of his marriage.

The man said his son has had to obey strict house rules since moving back home, including not having friends over and abstaining from drugs or alcohol.

"I didn't think he would last ... but he stuck it through. His goal was always the children."

Court previously heard testimony the young boy's father became intoxicated earlier this year and threatened to commit suicide, that he had admitted to driving drunk and that, while working as a security guard, he had been banished from two work sites for "inappropriate behaviour."

CFS lawyer Kris Janovcik asked the man if learning about those incidents changed his opinion about his son's ability to parent the two children. He said yes.

The trial is expected to resume sometime in September with closing submissions from CFS and the children's father.

dean.pritchard@sunmedia.ca