The life and legacy of a young girl murdered in Winnipeg 10 years ago will be honoured with federal and provincial funding for a community resource aimed at helping at-risk youth.
The Manitoba government announced Friday that $986,000 in funding is going toward the Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad organization to support programming at Tina’s Safe Haven, a 24-hour drop-in centre named for Tina Fontaine.
The centre’s namesake went missing in August 2014 at only 15 years old and was found dead a week after police believe she was murdered, when her body was pulled from the Red River.
Her death has been widely seen as a catalyst for activism across the country, eventually leading to the creation of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The man police and Tina’s family believe committed the murder, Raymond Cormier, was acquitted in 2018 and reportedly died earlier this spring.
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Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said Tina leaves behind an “enormous legacy.”
“We honour her memory today and every day in the sacred work we do to protect women, girls and youth,” the minister said.
“Ten years after her death, our government is remembering her while taking real action to protect Manitobans like her by supporting community partners and programs on the front lines of this lifesaving work including Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad’s Tina’s Safe Haven.”
Through Tina’s Safe Haven, Shanlee Scott, the executive director of Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad, said young people have access to counselling, health support and other resources.
She said hundreds of youth access the centre each month to have their basic needs met.
“Whether that’s a meal, whether that’s a warm place, use of a phone, a shower, things that you and I might take so for granted but our unhoused youth don’t have access to,” Scott said.
Gerri-Lee Pangman said her sister, Jennifer McPherson, was murdered the same year as Fontaine. It’s because of her sister’s death that she is encouraged to see cash come through for Tina’s Safe Haven.
“To hear that there’s more funding for younger girls (is) really great because they will have a place to go to and it can save lives,” she said.
The federal funding, to the tune of $400,000, comes from the National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence and will be used by Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad, in partnership with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, for weekly public health nursing at Tina’s Safe Haven.
The additional $586,000, from provincial coffers, is earmarked for ongoing operating costs and programming at the facility.
“We know that the rates of violence towards Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people are significantly higher than in other populations,” federal Women and Gender Equality Minister Marci Ien said in a statement Friday.
“To honour the life and legacy of Tina Fontaine and all missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls who were taken from their families and communities too soon, we must do better for Indigenous communities in Manitoba and across the country.”
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