Heads-up would’ve been nice, Fontaine says of chief

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This article was published 20/03/2024 (576 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said she wishes Winnipeg’s police chief had contacted her before holding a news conference last week to raise alarm about youth in care committing violent crimes.

“He could’ve called me,” the minister said in an interview Wednesday.

“I would’ve liked to have had a conversation with him first,” said Fontaine, who noted they have each other’s personal cellphone numbers because they’ve worked together for years.

“He didn’t necessarily have all of the information available to him,” Fontaine said in her office.

Smyth held a news conference to discuss a spate of attacks involving underage accused who were living in group or foster homes, where caregivers don’t have the means to give them a stable life.

“The violence that we’re seeing is remarkable,” Smyth said at the time. “They’re wielding machetes and using them almost at what appears to be indiscriminately,” the chief said.

Fontaine, the minister in charge of the child welfare system, was in New York at the United Nations last week and not available for interviews to respond to Smyth.

During question period Wednesday, the Progressive Conservative critics for families and justice called out Fontaine for being absent and failing to address the issue.

Fontaine didn’t respond to their questions but agreed to a media interview in her office.

“My concern and my caution is that, when we make blanket statements, that we’re painting all youth with the same brush,” Fontaine said.

“I think that there’s some intrinsic harm that can happen in that it certainly does contribute to anti-Indigenous sentiment. At the end of the day, we’re talking about children,” said Fontaine, who was the former NDP government’s special adviser on Indigenous women’s issues until she was elected in 2016.

“We should be very mindful and cautious when we’re attaching a particular narrative to children without all the information,” said the minister.

She said that if they were asked about which children are in care, “99.9 per cent” of Manitobans would identify them as Indigenous.

While there are “pockets” of violent incidents, “the vast majority of kids in care are not in conflict with the law,” Fontaine said Wednesday.

“They’re navigating the system, they’re being cared for. They’re being loved. We’ve got folks helping them with complex needs. There’s all kinds of pathways to reunification…”

After Smyth’s extraordinary news conference, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Manitoba’s children’s advocate on Friday echoed his concerns about the lack of resources and support available to youth in the child welfare system and their caregivers.

“I understand Chief Smyth’s concern and where he was coming from,” Fontaine said Wednesday. She has not spoken to Smyth about his comments, she said. “We are all on the same page in respect of wanting safe communities.”

Premier Wab Kinew told the house Wednesday that a public safety summit has been set for April 30, to bring together organizations and community groups, to come up with a plan to tackle issues such as those raised by Smyth.

He responded to opposition questions put to Fontaine by the Tories, including families critic Lauren Stone. She questioned Fontaine’s commitment to the families portfolio and was admonished by Speaker Tom Lindsey for calling her the “minister of social media vanity.”

“The system has failed these children,” said Stone. “The minister is more concerned about likes on Twitter and shares of her Instagram reels than she is about Manitoba children. (She) needs to understand the job she signed up for is vitally important and she needs to start showing up for it.”

PC justice critic Wayne Balcaen said Fontaine “needs to stop the jet-setting and start governing.”

He asked Fontaine if she has met with Smyth since returning to Winnipeg.

“We cannot allow vulnerable youth to fall through the system like this,” said Balcaen, a former police chief in Brandon.

In response, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said he met with Smyth on Tuesday.

“The facts that the police chief so eloquently stated in the media and shared with me personally are that over two terms, over almost eight years of PC governance, that things had gotten worse and worse and worse in our city and in our province,” Wiebe said. “They understand that it’s not just about law enforcement, but it’s about getting to the root causes of crime.”

Kinew said he was proud to respond to “personal attacks” targeting Fontaine’s time at the United Nations and her social media presence.

“(She) is an inspiration to Indigenous women and all Manitobans who believe in gender equity and reproductive justice,” he told the house.

“She was undertaking important work on behalf of the province of Manitoba and advocating for gender equity, not just here in the province but internationally,” Kinew said. “Surely that’s an important priority.”

— with files from Danielle Da Silva

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca