Kinew stands by cabinet minister dogged by controversy

Premier Wab Kinew says he won’t remove a cabinet minister over a social-media post she shared that slammed American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk following his assassination on a university campus Wednesday.

Nahanni Fontaine, who recently had to apologize over her criticism that an ASL interpreter had shared a stage with her and blocked her view of the audience, will remain families minister, the premier said Friday.

“It would be too easy to show her the door,” Kinew said, adding he doesn’t believe in cancel culture. “People need to be brought along and shown… we need to be showing empathy and compassion to people even when we don’t agree with them.”

Kinew said he spoke to Fontaine earlier in the day and asked her to apologize after she shared another person’s post on Instagram one day earlier that said: “Charlie Kirk was a racist, xenophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, sexist, white nationalist mouthpiece who made millions of dollars inciting hatred in this country.”

The post went on to say, “I extend absolutely no empathy for people like that.”

The premier said he would help Fontaine understand the need to “bring people together and not to divide people at this time.”

Kinew wouldn’t go into detail about their conversation, but hinted it touched on thinking twice before posting on social media. He said he’s concerned about the threat faced by people in the public eye, such as himself, and he understands the need to de-escalate issues and foster constructive conversations over hot-button topics.

Fontaine wasn’t made available for an interview but issued a statement Friday morning.

“I apologize for sharing a post yesterday on the murder of Charlie Kirk. Violence has no place in our democracy. Political debate is achieved with words and discussion. In a world too often divided, we should strive to show empathy to everyone, even those we don’t agree with,” Fontaine’s written statement said.

Kinew said he asked Fontaine to apologize because he wants his government, and Manitoba, to be a force for openness and dialogue.

Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan said Fontaine’s apology was “obligatory and disingenuous” as he called for her to be bounced from cabinet.

Fontaine has shown a pattern of poor conduct and she doesn’t have the “temperament to be a minister, especially of families and accessibility,” Khan said.

The comments she posted about Kirk’s assassination and having “absolutely no empathy for people like that” are “disgusting,” the Tory leader said.

He’s concerned that he and others who exercise their right to free speech and share their opinions publicly could be targeted.

“When I saw her comments go up, it sent a chill down my spine,” Khan said.

University of Manitoba political studies professor Christopher Adams said Fontaine has stirred up needless controversy at a sensitive time. The provincial government is continuing to work with American officials to promote trade as it copes with President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“Wab Kinew is playing a careful game right now with the U.S.A. and things like this could disrupt what we have built for relations,” Adams said.

He said Fontaine caused the most damage by taking the spotlight off her government’s announcement to give $20 million toward the construction of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg.

“There was a big announcement… and everybody wanted to talk about Nahanni. Politically, it is difficult for the premier and his staff to talk about this if they are taken off message.”

In June, Fontaine had to apologize several times for her remarks, which were caught on a live microphone off stage, about a sign-language interpreter. She complained about sharing the stage with an ASL interpreter at a graduation ceremony for Indigenous women.

The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network released a video of her saying, “The woman, she shouldn’t have been on the stage… I’m like f—-, why did I have her on the stage? Like, Jesus, I’m like, ‘You need to leave,’” Fontaine said about the translator.

She later said she would take part in deaf and deaf culture training, along with staff members.

The PCs called for her resignation after APTN reported on her remarks on June 27. Kinew stood by her at the time.

“Our minister has apologized and is putting in the work with the community, so it’s with the greatest of humility that I want to ask folks in the deaf community to keep working with her,” Kinew said in July.

Adams said Fontaine may pay the price during the next cabinet shuffle; Kinew may decide to shunt her to a ministerial position of lesser importance.

“I would say (Kinew’s) patience is likely running thin, but at the same time it is not as if she has embezzled or she has done something criminal… these things are political errors.”

Meantime, on the subject of Kirk, the premier said that while he doesn’t agree with most of what the conservative activist said, he believes Kirk was right to invite people to a university to debate contentious topics.

“Maybe not with the tone,” Kinew said. “We don’t want to retreat into our various camps and our echo chambers. We want to have dialogue. The idea that violence would take any life is wrong. The idea that violence would take a life in the midst of a time where politics keeps heating up and dividing people, it’s all the more cause for concern.”

— with files from Kevin Rollason

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Several wise folks — ok, ok, journalism types — once told Scott he better make sure he can report on news before he learns to write about sports. In what can only be described as a minor miracle, he listened.

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Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

In 1997, Carol started at the Free Press working nights as a copy editor. In 2000, she jumped at a chance to return to reporting. In early 2020 — before a global pandemic was declared — she agreed to pitch in, temporarily, at the Free Press legislature bureau. She’s been there ever since.

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