The pipeline from ‘child welfare’ to MMIG

[imagecaption] Portrait of Tina Fontaine, Bayview Primary, Glenfield, New Zealand, 2018. Artist: Emily Gardner. [/imagecaption]

‘Labelling MMIWG2S [Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and two-spirit people] as high-risk, trafficked/prostituted, troubled runaways but not acknowledging the forced child-welfare policies that put Indigenous people at risk for violence, disappearance, and death is both disingenuous and dangerous.’
Colleen Hele, Naomi Sayers, and Jessica Wood

[BREAK]

A fatal timeline

Tina’s movements during the last twelve hours when she was seen alive are documented by a range of sources. At the time she was under the care of Manitoba Child and Family Services (CFS), and had broken curfew and been reported missing several times.

• Around 5am on the morning of August 8 2014, police pulled up a vehicle Tina was in, but failed to identify her as a missing person.
• A few hours later she was found asleep in a parking lot, unable to be roused. Paramedics arrived and she was taken to a Children’s Hospital, where a doctor examined her and a social worker contacted the Southeast Child and Family Services agency. She was discharged into the care of a Family Services social worker.
• The social worker checked Tina into the the Best Western Charterhouse Hotel in downtown Winnipeg, advised Tina not to go out again, and left her in the care of a respite worker.
• Despite the respite worker’s urging, Tina left the hotel shortly after she arrived. An hour and a half after she missed her curfew, the respite worker reported her missing.
• Her body was found in the Red River eight days later.