Copies of a special report on the death of fifteen-year-old Tina Fontaine released by Daphne Penrose, the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth, are pictured at a release event at the Sagkeeng Mino Pimatiziwin Family Treatment Centre on the Sagkeeng First Nation, Man., Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)
WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government is honouring the memory of Tina Fontaine by providing $986,000 in combined federal and provincial funding to Ndinawemaaganag Endaawaad, an organization dedicated to helping at-risk youth in Winnipeg.
The funds, announced on Friday, will enhance programming at Tina’s Safe Haven, a 24-hour drop-in centre for youth aged 13 to 24, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said during a ceremony at The Forks.
“Tina’s life was cut short, but her legacy is enormous. We honour her memory today and every day in the sacred work we do to protect women, girls and youth,” said Fontaine.
“10 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.”
The new funding includes $400,000 from the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, which will be used to provide on-site public health nursing and mental wellness support. An additional $586,000 in provincial funding will cover ongoing operating costs and new programming, aligning with the government’s 2024 commitment to protect and empower Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit peoples.
Tina Fontaine was 15-years-old when she was murdered in 2014, a tragedy that sparked the MMIWG2S+ movement and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
