Group protests acquittal in death of Indigenous girl
The sound of a traditional Indigenous drum cut through the cold winter air Friday as a small group of people marched down Albert Street.
They were marching to protest the acquittal of Raymond Cormier, the man who had been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine in Winnipeg.
“We want justice for Tina,” said Murray Stonechild, who identified himself as a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) Saskatchewan.
The march was organized in solidarity with others who were holding an event in Winnipeg, near where Fontaine’s lifeless body was found.
Stonechild said Fontaine was just a “child” and the justice system, which was supposed to protect her, had failed.
“She ended up in the bottom of a river, wrapped in a blanket with stones holding her down.”
He went on to ask how such a tragedy could happen and, further, who will be held accountable.
Speaking to this Caucasian reporter, he said: “The whole system that’s set up right now, it was set up by your ancestors to keep us oppressed.
“Till this day, you benefit from that and we are oppressed by that.”
Several members of the march were wearing patches identifying them as being associated with AIM — a civil-rights group best known for its siege of Wounded Knee, South Dakota in 1973.
Stonechild carried a flag with the group’s logo emblazoned on it.
Bemoaning the justice system, he pointed at another death and subsequent court case, reverberations from which are still being felt across the province.
“We just did rallies for Colten Boushie,” he said.
“It just goes on and on.”