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EDMONTON — When Ezekiel Stephan fell ill, his parents treated his fever with a tincture of garlic, onion and horseradish.

David and Collet Stephan did call an ambulance, but only after he’d stopped breathing, after his body had become so stiff he couldn’t be placed in a car seat.

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They were found guilty in April 2016 for failing to provide the necessaries of life in the death of their son but the Supreme Court ordered a new trial two years later. In a Lethbridge, Alta., courtroom Thursday, seven years after their 19-month-old son was taken off life support in a Calgary hospital, they were acquitted.

Photo by Handout/CP

“It is by the grace of God that we were able to get through this,” said David Stephan outside the courthouse, smiling broadly on Facebook Live. “This is a forward movement where we’re seeing the erosion of parental rights and medical choice here in Canada.”

The Stephan case raises significant questions about the ability of the legal and medical system to cope with a rise in the use of alternative therapies that can put the lives of children at risk.