Tina Fontaine's family mourns loss as 9-year anniversary of her body's discovery looms

Nearly nine years after Tina Fontaine's body was found in Winnipeg's Red River, her family and community is determined to keep her memory alive — and join in on calls to support other missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

"I just wish that she didn't have to end up like that, that it didn't have to end up like that. And that she could still be here," said Fontaine's brother, Elroy Fontaine, 17.

People walked from The Forks to Alexander Docks Thursday evening where they lit candles in honour of Tina Fontaine, whose 72-pound body was pulled from the river on Aug. 17, 2014.

Calls to support other missing and murdered Indigenous women also rang out, including calls to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for two homicide victims, Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran. 

Harris's daughter, Cambria, was one of the dozens who took part in the memorial.

"It's very emotional. I'm very proud and honoured that people did come, and I'm proud and honoured that I get to stand up with Cambria [Harris] and all these wonderful people and use my voice," Fontaine said.

Tina was 15 years old when her body was found wrapped in a duvet cover and weighed down in the river by rocks. Police arrested Raymond Cormier and charged him with her murder, but he was acquitted in February 2018, and no one has ever been convicted in her death.

Her death led to national outcry, and she soon became a national symbol of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

While her loss is devastating, her brother said he believes it happened for a reason — to spread awareness about the issues Indigenous women and girls like her face.

"It woke the nation. It opened people's eyes," Fontaine said.

Tina, who was from Sagkeeng First Nation, was in the care of Child and Family Services when she died. She began to struggle after her father was murdered in 2011, and soon fell into a world of addiction, homelessness and sexual exploitation after she went to Winnipeg to reconnect with her mother.

The night before she was last reported missing, she was dropped off with a contracted care worker at a downtown hotel, but she later walked away.

A 2019 Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth report made five recommendations on how the government and other public bodies could better support youth like Tina, touching on education, mental health, justice and child welfare.

But Jessica Courchene, who's from Sagkeeng First Nation, said not much has changed since the young girl was found.