'Her death was a wakeup call': 10th anniversary of Tina Fontaine's death to be marked

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary since the death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine.

Fontaine’s younger brother Elroy was only eight at the time.

“She was someone with a very good heart and a good soul,” Elroy Fontaine told CTV News Thursday. “She was just taken too soon.”

It’s believed Fontaine died on or around Aug. 10, 2014, and a week later, her body – wrapped in a duvet cover and weighed down by rocks – was recovered from the Red River at the Alexander Docks.

“I remember just not knowing how to process it and just being very, very silent,” Elroy said. "It took a while for me for it to click. And it was very hard when I finally realized she wasn’t going to come back.”

Raymond Cormier was acquitted of second-degree murder in 2018.

Fontaine’s death sparked outrage across the country and brought the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) to the forefront.

The outcry also renewed demands for a national inquiry.

“I felt her death was a wakeup call to this country on how systems are failing vulnerable Indigenous girls, women, two-spirit, and gender diverse people,” said Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, chair for the National Family and Survivors Circle. “This country has so much more work to do, and there needs to be accountability mechanisms in place to ensure transformative action comes to fruition.”

Anderson-Pyrz, a long-time MMIWG advocate, said that includes holding all levels of government accountable for the implementation of the 231 Calls for Justice in the national inquiry’s final report.

In June, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) released a progress report five years after the national inquiry’s final report was released. It found only two Calls for Justice have been fully implemented – with the majority showing minimal or no progress made.

On Saturday, a feast is being held in Fontaine’s home community of Sagkeeng First Nation. Meantime, Elroy is hosting a candlelight vigil at the Alexander Docks. Both events look to keep Fontaine’s legacy intact.

“I think she has a big legacy that she’s left,” NDP cabinet minister Bernadette Smith said Thursday. “You look at Bear Clan, the community patrols. The national inquiry wouldn’t have happened without her.

Smith and fellow cabinet minister Nahanni Fontaine said the NDP government is in the midst of developing a provincial strategy on MMIWG2S+ and expect it will be unveiled this fall.

“Tina Fontaine’s legacy literally has saved lives,” Minister Fontaine said. “That little girl has saved lives from coast to coast to coast. And it’s also indicative of how powerful Indigenous women are – even in death.”