Manitoba government launches $15M endowment fund for MMIWG2S families
Families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit peoples (MMIWG2S) can expect more financial support from the Manitoba government as part of a new endowment fund announced Sunday.
In partnership with The Winnipeg Foundation, the provincial government is investing $15 million into the creation of a MMIWG2S Healing and Empowerment endowment fund that aims to help families who have lost their loved ones access the care they need.
“This endowment fund will also help support organizations that are Indigenous-led and that are working on the frontlines and working with MMIWG2S families,” said Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine.
Fontaine said her goal is to see the fund reach $50 million, which she hopes will include donations from the public, as well as corporate entities and businesses across Canada.
“Anybody that says that they believe in reconciliation, that they’re on the path of reconciliation, action that,” Fontaine said. “Invest in the endowment fund.”
Fontaine also said the fund will be available to families regardless of the minister in charge, or the government in power.
“Back in 2016, when there was a shift in government, all of the work that the previous NDP and myself as special advisor, all of the work that we had been working on just fell by the wayside,” Fontaine said. “We have to put in place an infrastructure, that still no matter what happens politically, the tides change, whatever it may be, that those resources and supports are still there for families.”
The announcement was one of several events scheduled for National Red Dress Day – a day that recognizes and commemorates MMIWG2S, observed annually on May 5.
Dozens of people gathered at Oodena Circle in downtown Winnipeg to participate in commemorative drumming, singing and prayer.
While Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick welcomed the community support, she called on more action to help bring people’s loved ones home.
“We need justice for our women,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Board orders deportation for trucker in horrific Humboldt Broncos crash
The truck driver who caused the horrific bus crash involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team has been ordered to be deported.
How to keep insects out of your house, according to an entomologist and other experts
Now that temperatures have warmed up even more this spring, you may be anxious at the thought of bugs invading your home or you may already be battling the pests. Here are expert tips on how to keep them away.
Community mourns victims of fatal boat crash near Kingston, Ont.
The three people killed in last weekend's tragic collision between a speedboat and a fishing boat north of Kingston are being remembered Friday.
A woman took her dog to a shelter to be euthanized. A year later, the dog is up for adoption again
Exhausted and short on options after consulting two veterinary clinics, Kristie Pereira made the gut-wrenching decision last year to take her desperately ill puppy to a Maryland shelter to be euthanized.
Group tied to Islamic State plotted fatal Ontario restaurant shooting: Crown
A gunman who is accused of killing a young Ontario man and shooting four of his family members at their small Mississauga restaurant in 2021 was allegedly part of a trio who had pledged allegiance to the listed terrorist group Islamic State, a Crown attorney said in an opening statement in the Brampton murder trial this week.
Leaving time on the table: Surveys show unused paid vacation, 'quiet vacationing'
'Quiet vacationing' is the latest new term to describe the rough edges of office culture, and survey data shows it's widespread among North American workers.
Avian flu: Catch up on spread, risks, and guidance from health experts
After another case of H5N1 avian flu linked to dairy cows was confirmed in a second dairy farmer in the United States, some Canadian experts say the federal government needs to expand surveillance of the virus north of the border.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
UN court order demanding Israel to halt Gaza offensive further isolates U.S. position
A ruling by the top United Nations court ordering Israel to halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has deepened its disconnect with the United States over an operation that faces mounting international condemnation but that American officials describe, at least for now, as limited and targeted.