Camp at Legislature calls for justice for Indigenous people

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This article was published 22/02/2018 (2497 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A handful of people set up a camp overnight on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature to protest the not guilty verdict in the Tina Fontaine death.

“The Tina Fontaine case pushed me over the edge and it’s about that, but also it’s about the compounding with the justice system,” said camp leader Darla Contois.

Social media posts in the hours after the not guilty verdict came announced the camp was going up to support calls for justice in both Fontaine’s death and shooting death of Saskatchewan Cree man Colten Boushie. Waves of protests followed a not guilty verdict of a farmer charged in Boushie’s death just weeks before the Winnipeg verdict Thursday.

“I’m not going to be leaving this camp,” said Contois, bundled up in sleeping bags and blankets to ward off -16 C cold. An older woman who also spent the night introduced herself as a representative of the American Indian Movement and one young man identified himself as Matthew Shorting, one of the “crossover kids” featured in a recent Free Press story about kids in the child welfare system who end up before the courts facing the justice system.

Contois said there was more on trial in the Winnipeg courtroom than Raymond Cormier, the accused in Fontaine’s death, and when she heard the first news reports she was overcome with emotion about how Indigenous people have been marginalized since Canada was created.

“There was the feeling I couldn’t expect things to change by continuing on with my daily life. It felt impossible to just stay at home. I just knew I had to do something and take action.”

On Thursday a jury found Raymond Cormier, 56, not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Sagkeeng youth Tina Fontaine, 15. Indigenous people across the country closely followed the trial proceedings and expressed frustration it would bring no justice for Fontaine or her family.

Cormier was believed to be one of the last people to see Fontaine alive but there was no DNA or forensic evidence linking him to her death. Her body was pulled from the Red River wrapped in a duvet believed to belong to Cormier and weighted down with stones. The grisly discovery in 2014 triggered outrage and reignited calls for the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls called the next year.

Contois and her supporters said they plan to keep the camp going until they see some indication the justice system will change.

“What I imagine there to be is a conversation and a beginning that Indigenous people have a say in the justice system, “ Contois said.

What that might look like, she’ll have to wait and see, she said.

“There are a lot of things we want to see different in this Canada [that] don’t exist. In the past there has been a lot of assimilation and a disregard for us as Indigenous people and our role in this country, “ Contois said.

The camp is a small nylon tent, with a standing covered metal fire pit, some camp chairs and loads of blankets.

“We brought the tent, a tarp and a cooler and as many blankets as we could. We’ve had people coming all night. They brought the fire (pit), all the wood and tea and coffee and food.”

A social media post last night read:

“We stand here for the justice we deserve and we’re not leaving until we get it.”

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca