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91ƵNot forgotten91Ƶ: Family, advocates reflect 10 years after death of Tina Fontaine

Elroy Fontaine plans to honour the day by hosting a candlelight vigil where Tina91Ƶs body was found
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Copies of a special report on the death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine are pictured at an event at the Sagkeeng Mino Pimatiziwin Family Treatment Centre on the Sagkeeng First Nation, Man., Tuesday, March 12, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

When Elroy Fontaine thinks about his older sister, Tina Fontaine, his mind takes him to a park in Winnipeg91Ƶs Point Douglas neighbourhood.

It91Ƶs where the two would sometimes hang out together.

A decade after the tragic death of the 15-year-old girl, one that shocked the country and was the catalyst for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, Elroy Fontaine still stops by the special spot.

The siblings spent time in provincial care but would see each other during scheduled visits that included Slurpee runs and park hangs.

91ƵShe would sometimes take me out away from the visits 91Ƶ she let me play at the park,91Ƶ said the 18-year-old.

91ƵTina would be very protective and motherly.91Ƶ

Saturday marks the 10-year anniversary of the day it91Ƶs believed the girl from Sagkeeng Anicinabe Nation died.

Elroy Fontaine plans to honour the day by hosting a candlelight vigil where Tina91Ƶs body was discovered.

The girl had disappeared into the streets of Winnipeg, before her small, weighted-down body wrapped in plastic and a duvet cover was pulled from the Red River on Aug. 17, 2014.

Tina was raised by a great-aunt for much of her life but had been living in a Winnipeg hotel under the care of child and family services. She was reported missing a week before her body was found.

The following year, police charged a man with second-degree murder in her death. A jury found Raymond Cormier not guilty in 2018.

Tina91Ƶs death marked a turning point in how society treated and viewed missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Advocates and family members, who had long been calling for political action to address staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls, raised their voices even louder and demanded change.

91ƵWhen my sister became a poster child and there were rallies and it became national, I think it opened a lot of people91Ƶs eyes,91Ƶ said Elroy Fontaine.

91ƵIt91Ƶs sad it had to take someone91Ƶs life for people to realize.91Ƶ

Shortly after Tina91Ƶs body was discovered, a huge crowd marched through Winnipeg91Ƶs downtown demanding justice.

Manitoba91Ƶs advocate for children and youth, Sherry Gott, remembers the day clearly. She was a social worker at the time.

91ƵThe walk was truly so quiet, and yet there were hundreds of people there. I was shocked like everyone else and outraged.91Ƶ

In the days, weeks and months that followed, there was change on different levels.

Public pressure forced the province to stop using hotels as placements for youth in care.

The Indigenous-led safety group Bear Clan Patrol re-emerged to canvass Winnipeg streets for missing Indigenous people.

The federal Liberal government, under newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, committed to a national inquiry. It published its final report in 2019, including 231 calls for justice.

Some advocates say Tina91Ƶs death brought more awareness but they still see children and youth being sexually exploited.

The advocate91Ƶs office completed an investigation into the services Tina received and issued recommendations for provincial bodies. While some have been completed, the challenges seem to persist.

91ƵWe91Ƶre not seeing real change on the ground at the systemic level,91Ƶ said Gott.

Advocates say Winnipeg is still considered ground zero for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, while Indigenous children and youth continue to be disproportionately represented in the child welfare system.

Over the last year, Gott91Ƶs office has seen three young people who were sexually exploited die from drug poisoning. This further underscores the need for the provincial government to develop a co-ordinated response for mental health, addictions and abuse, she said.

91ƵThey need to show moral courage and make this a priority and respond to the kids that are falling through the cracks.91Ƶ

Shanlee Scott says she sees it every day.

Scott is executive director of the resource centre Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad, which operates Tina91Ƶs Safe Haven, named after Tina Fontaine.

The drop-in centre works with youth who have no place to stay, no way to access mental health supports or health care and have been deprived of cultural connections.

The organization partners with therapy groups and Indigenous health providers to address the gaps in care.

91ƵTina91Ƶs (Safe Haven) isn91Ƶt enough 91Ƶ Tina91Ƶs is serving an immediate need. It is not a long-term solution,91Ƶ said Scott.

Gott said she91Ƶd like to see a third-party review of Tracia91Ƶs Trust, the province91Ƶs sexual exploitation strategy launched in 2008, and for the government to release a plan on how it aims to address the national inquiry91Ƶs calls for justice.

Cabinet ministers Bernadette Smith and Nahanni Fontaine, who are Indigenous, addressed the anniversary earlier this week, saying the NDP government is committed to adhering to the recommendations from the national inquiry and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

They pointed to the government91Ƶs Matriarch Circle to assist in the work and a grant program in partnership with the Winnipeg Foundation to support families of the missing and murdered.

91ƵWe all have a responsibility. It91Ƶs not just governments. It91Ƶs not just police. It91Ƶs a society issue,91Ƶ said Smith, whose sister Claudette Osborne-Tyo disappeared in 2008.

The ministers said the government plans to release its strategy on missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people this fall.

Meanwhile, Elroy Fontaine finds solace in knowing his sister91Ƶs legacy lives on.

91ƵIt helps a lot to know that there91Ƶs still supporters 91Ƶ she91Ƶs not forgotten.91Ƶ

91Ƶ With files from Steve Lambert

Brittany Hobson, The Canadian Press

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