‘Justice needs to be served’: The trial in Tina Fontaine’s killing underway

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This article was published 29/01/2018 (2811 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the man accused of killing 15-year-old Tina Fontaine begins his second-degree murder trial today, leaders in the teen’s home community hope her case will spur change for the families of other missing and murdered women across the country.

“Justice needs to be served, either way,” said Sagkeeng First Nation Chief Derrick Henderson.

“There are lots (of Indigenous women and girls) that are still missing across this country,” he added.

“This is one very important (case) and yes, it did wake up the government, it did wake up the people. This issue is huge.”

Today marks the first day of 55-year-old Raymond Cormier’s trial, which is set to last until March 2 in front of a jury and Chief Justice Glenn Joyal in Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench. Cormier has maintained his innocence. He launched a complaint against Winnipeg Police Service officers for their handling of the investigation, accusing them of fabricating evidence that led to his arrest in December 2015, more than a year after Tina’s body was pulled from the Red River wrapped in a duvet cover. He dropped the complaint last June, as his defence team focused on preparing for the high-profile murder trial.

It’s a trial that, despite the international attention the homicide case attracted, most in Sagkeeng won’t get to see. The band office is helping support Tina’s great-aunt, Thelma Favel, who will stay in a hotel in Winnipeg for the trial. Sagkeeng is about 120 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

Favel raised Tina in Sagkeeng, but after the teen ran away to Winnipeg in July 2014, Favel voluntarily placed her in the care of Child and Family Services. Tina was reported missing from her placement at the end of July, and was believed to be last seen Aug. 8, 2014, nine days before she was found dead in the river.

“It’s pretty hard to bring 4,000 people there from Sagkeeng to come watch the trial. It’s just out of the question, but it would be nice, of course, if we were able to access it,” Henderson said.

He said rather than getting caught up in the court case and the gruesome details that may lurk therein, Sagkeeng is looking to the future, continuing with plans to erect a monument to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Community leaders have met with an artist to commission a statue they hope will be in place later this year.

In the meantime, Henderson said he hopes the beginning of the trial for Tina’s accused killer will remind those in charge of a national inquiry why they started and where they’re going.

Tina’s death caused a public outcry that renewed calls for an inquiry into disproportionately high rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The federal government launched the independent inquiry in September 2016 and hearings got underway last year, but they were marred by several staff resignations amid complaints from victims’ families about a lack of communication and feeling left out of the process. A deadline for the commissioners’ final report from the national inquiry has been set for the end of this year, but they may ask the federal government for an extension.

“We’ll never get the recommendations if we don’t get this commission to follow the right path, which is to do their mandate. Right now, they’re having difficulties with their mandate because of all the turmoil that’s happening internally,” Henderson said.

It’s time to focus on Tina, he said, and make changes in her memory that could help others.

“That’s the whole point, to get that inquiry and move this thing forward,” Henderson said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

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