‘Unspeakable rage’ at vigil for Fontaine
Montrealers gathered in Cabot Square on Saturday to call for justice for Tina Fontaine and demand widespread changes to protect Indigenous youth.
On Friday, a jury acquitted a man accused of killing 15-year-old Fontaine; her body wrapped in a blanket and weighed down with rocks had been pulled from a Winnipeg river in August 2014.
Dozens of supporters seeking reconciliation carried signs saying “Canada failed Tina Fontaine,” and “Justice for Colten,” and “no justice, no peace,” and “Justice brings healing.” They filled the park in a vigil to honour Fontaine. No one mentioned Raymond Cormier, 56, was found not guilty of second-degree murder in her death. But the anger and sorrow at the gulf between Indigenous and non-Indigenous lives was palpable.
The acquittal was seen as a slap in the face, considering last week a jury in Saskatoon found Gerald Stanley not guilty of shooting First Nations man Colten Boushie, 22.
“I feel unspeakable rage,” said Viviane Michel, head of Quebec
Native Women. “Justice for your sisters and daughters is not the same as ours because we are a target for violence and rape.”
The justice system is failing Indigenous people, Michel said, adding events have shown Indigenous youth cannot expect justice.
“Canada has to wake up,” she said. “Our daughters and sisters and children are not safe out there.”
The tragic death of Fontaine helped spark the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. Yet her case remains unsolved, said Kanehsatà:ke activist Ellen Gabriel.
“Justice for Tina, and for all those missing and murdered,” Gabriel told the crowd. “Canada failed. The evidence is in what we have seen in these last weeks.”
Even before the inquiry got started, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said the answers were clearly known, Gabriel said in an interview after the vigil.
“They’ve done nothing. The inquiry is supposed to be investigating — it’s not a commission like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” Gabriel said, but their report from November “just regurgitated everything that we already know.”
Canada is guilty of failing to uphold its international human rights obligations, more than 10 years after the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN’s general assembly, Gabriel said. “Because of colonization, and its impact of violence against Indigenous people, Canada needs to implement special measures. This was said 15 years ago — they’ve done nothing.”
There have been various commissions and reports over the years, she said, and everyone knows what the answer is.
“So why does justice continue to criminalize victims like Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie?” she demanded. “Why are we still doing this in 2018? There’s no excuse.”
Nakuset, executive director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, said the vigil was for Tina and her family. “And we want Tina’s family to know that we’re behind her and we believe in Indigenous youth and we’re going to try to make a change.”
The message from each of the vigil’s speakers was essentially the same. “We need to do better as a society,” Nakuset said.“We need our politicians to know that our people are falling through the cracks, and they keep making promises to us, and they keep failing us.”
Youth protection, social services, the hospital and the police — everyone failed Tina, she said. “We need education, so everyone knows about colonialism.”
Education must also address systemic racism, so that Indigenous women and children do not continue to suffer alarming rates of violence, she said. The acquittal in both cases is a travesty of justice, she added.
“Enough,” she said. “We don’t want any more of our people dying. It’s not just an Indigenous problem. It’s a society problem and it has to stop.”