A scathing report outlining how Manitoba government agencies failed to help 15-year-old Tina Fontaine in the weeks before her death isn鈥檛 surprising to Indigenous child advocates.
Indigenous people and their children often feel like they鈥檙e 鈥渏ust pushed aside,鈥� Mama Bear Clan member Samantha Chief told CTV News Channel. She said Indigenous youths being neglected by government services was a part of their 鈥渄ay-to-day lives of not being recognized when we cry out for help.鈥�
鈥淪he was a human being [who] deserved respect that she didn鈥檛 get,鈥� said Chief, whose women-led, volunteer group patrols Winnipeg streets helping at-risk youth.
Children鈥檚 advocate Daphne Penrose says in her report that the province systematically failed Fontaine. It found that the girl had reached out for help multiple times to different agencies in the weeks before she was found dead in a river in August 2014.
Manitoba's Child Advocate's found that Fontaine was essentially left homeless and was at risk for sexual exploitation. The report also makes five recommendations which include a plan to address children's mental health and a new response for at-risk and sexually exploited youth.
But Chief is skeptical, saying past plans have been 鈥渆go-led鈥� and hadn鈥檛 come 鈥渇rom the heart.鈥� She says she prays 鈥渆very day that someone is going to come in and [take] all the wrongs and make them right somehow.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 still in awe of all these talks and all these things that are happening [which] aren鈥檛 doing anything to benefit the children here,鈥� Chief said, adding that Child and Family Services had failed her too as a child.
Without mentioning specific programs, she criticized their lack of funding, as well as the temporary nature of other programs -- which Chief described as 鈥渜uick Band-Aids.鈥�
When people are 鈥渄own in their lowest point,鈥� Chief says that鈥檚 when it鈥檚 vital that services 鈥渃ome from a place of love and compassion.鈥�
'Groups need to act in unison'
In an interview on CTV鈥檚 鈥淧ower Play,鈥� Cindy Blackstock, executive director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, stressed that the welfare of Indigenous children goes beyond just a 鈥済roup of people in an office.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 the people in the schools, it鈥檚 the mental health workers 鈥� the medical doctors, it鈥檚 police services and it鈥檚 child welfare services -- all of those groups need to act in unison,鈥� she said. 鈥淐anada has not gone the distance in terms of really prioritizing children鈥檚 care.鈥�
The new report urged schools to reform suspension and expulsion policies for at-risk youths and Blackstock said school administrators can鈥檛 ignore when an Indigenous youth goes days missing school.
鈥淭here needs to be a better alarm system to say, 鈥楬ey, what鈥檚 going on with this kid?鈥� she said.
鈥淗ow can we intervene with other service providers to make sure that something isn鈥檛 happening to [girls] -- as what was happening to Tina [who] was being sexually exploited by predator after predator,鈥� Blackstock said.
'Help needs to be there, right now'
According to the new report, one of the more damning instances of neglect included how, despite Fontaine鈥檚 father being brutally murdered when she was 12, she didn鈥檛 receive any grief counselling.
鈥淐anada seems to be pretty lackluster when it comes to some of the most basic things that you think would be in place for a child who鈥檚 experienced that kind of trauma in her life,鈥� Blackstock said.
鈥淭hat help needs to be there, right now,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like 鈥榤ake an appointment six, eight weeks done the line.鈥� We need to have real interventions that are available to youth at risk right at the moment.鈥�
She echoed the thoughts of Penrose, who told reporters, 鈥淲e have to make sure [youth] have access to timely treatment.鈥�
鈥淎nd when they come in and they say they鈥檙e ready, we need to be able to say, 鈥楥ome with me. I鈥檝e got you.鈥� And right now, we can鈥檛 say that,鈥� she said in Powerview-Pine falls, Man.
"We have to also acknowledge the many other ... children and youth who are falling through the cracks of society's safety net just like Tina," she said.
Penrose said the government needs to act quickly because children and youth are still facing the same risks and getting the same responses.
With files from The Canadian Press
