‘Manitoba is setting a precedent’

The Manitoba government hopes to forever change the level of support available for the families of missing and murdered Indigenous people through the establishment of a multimillion-dollar endowment fund that will grow in perpetuity.

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine announced the move Sunday, committing $15 million dollars to seed the fund, which is to be managed by the Winnipeg Foundation.

“This fund will ensure a stable long-term commitment to help meet the needs and support families for years to come,” Fontaine said, speaking to a small crowd gathered inside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

“No matter what government is in place in Manitoba, this endowment fund will always exist.”

The initial investment is expected to generate up to $750,000 per year for the grant program, with the proceeds dedicated to funding searches, education, Indigenous ceremonies and victim support services.

Funds will be distributed via application-based grants, with the first intake of applicants to begin sometime next year. The Manitoba government will work with MMIWG2S+ families, the Matriarch Circle and community partners in the coming months to develop grant eligibility and distribution guidelines, Fontaine said.

The fund will accept donations from citizens from across Manitoba and the nation, and the minister pledged to seek contributions from corporations and businesses.

“Anybody that says that they believe in reconciliation — that they are on the path of reconciliation — action that, action that and invest in the endowment fund,” she said, adding she would like to see the fund grow to $50 million.

The province described the endowment as the first step in its multi-year action plan to empower and protect Indigenous women and girls.

Manitoba’s government has budgeted $20 million this year for a provincial MMIWG2S+ strategy.

“Manitoba is setting a precedent for the rest of Canada with this,” said Nikki Komaksiutiksak, whose relative Jessica Michaels was found dead in a Winnipeg rooming house in 2002 at age 17.

“I think about… how this endowment fund would have helped to bring her body back home, where she belongs,” Komaksiutiksak said, describing how her family was forced to fundraise to cover the expense of shipping Michael’s remains to Nunavut.

“My story is very much the same as many Indigenous people across this country… I am very hopeful for our Indigenous communities to be well supported, starting now.”

Sunday’s announcement coincided with Red Dress Day — a nationally recognized day of advocacy for missing and murdered Indigenous people.

At The Forks, just steps away from where the province revealed its plan, dozens of people gathered within the Oodena Celebration Circle for an afternoon of Indigenous ceremony and commemoration.

The event, which was one of several slated to take place across the province, included speeches from Indigenous leaders and elders. Many in the crowd wore ribbon skirts and Indigenous regalia. Some painted red handprints — a symbol of justice for missing and murdered Indigenous people — over their faces.

Others carried signs bearing the names and photographs of their slain loved ones.

“Our men and women, kids, we are not trash. That’s one message I want to get across,” said Louise Menow, who attended the ceremony with her two young children and a close friend.

“We deserve to be respected. We deserve to be able to live without fear of having to look over our shoulder or walk in fear of people hating us for being Indigenous.”

Menow credited the province for its promise to implement Canada’s first Red Dress Alert system, which will notify the public when an Indigenous woman, girl, two-spirit or gender-diverse person is reported missing.

The province was selected as the primary location for the pilot project — a partnership led by the federal and Manitoba governments, and Indigenous grassroots organizations — because, in part, it is the epicentre of the national MMIWG2S+ crisis.

Julie Deane, Menow’s friend, also lauded the move.

Sunday marked the first time Deane attended the annual Red Dress Day events at The Forks. She was compelled to come after learning about the death of Marcedes Myran — one of four women believed to be a victim of alleged Winnipeg serial killer, Jeremy Skibicki.

Myran, 26, was a childhood friend of Deane’s son, she said.

“She was always with her sister. A busy little girl, always very curious and she loved cats,” Deane said.

A jury will begin hearing evidence in the Skibicki trial Wednesday. He has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder.

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His alleged crimes sparked contention throughout the province last October, when the former Progressive Conservative government led a controversial and failed election campaign predicated in part on the party’s reluctance to search Winnipeg-area landfills for possible victims’ remains.

Fontaine seized an opportunity to strike a blow at the party while announcing the endowment fund.

“We saw an unprecedented attack on Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited (people),” she said of the campaign. “They were willing to sell their souls to win government on the backs of our women.”

A crowd was expected to walk from Oodena to the steps of the Manitoba Legislative Building Sunday evening for the fourth-annual MMIWG2S+ Walk for Justice.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press' city desk. Since joining the paper in 2022, he has found himself driving through blizzards, documenting protests and scouring the undersides of bridges for potential stories.

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