Tina Fontaine’s great-aunt says she was shocked to learn that two Winnipeg police officers who came into contact with the teen before she was found dead won’t be fired.
“I was hoping they would have both been fired,” Thelma Favel told CTV Winnipeg. “I was hoping they’d be charged for not doing their job.”
Favel, who raised Fontaine since she was three years old, said she was so distraught by the outcome that she ended up in the hospital on Tuesday.
Fontaine, 15, had been reported missing before the two officers pulled over a vehicle that she was in last summer. Even though she was in a car with an impaired man, the officers let Fontaine go.
Nine days later, her body was pulled from the Red River, wrapped in a bag.
Fontaine’s death, which sparked renewed calls for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women, has been ruled a homicide. No charges have been laid.
Following a review, the Winnipeg Police Service said Tuesday that neither officer will face criminal charges. One has been suspended without pay and the other one is on paid administrative leave. They will remain on leave pending the outcome of the disciplinary process, police said.
Police have not said if their investigation determined whether the officers knew who Fontaine was, or whether they were aware she had been reported missing.
Derek Nepinak, the grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said he’s hopeful Winnipeg Police Chief Devon Clunis will make a sound decision about the officers facing disciplinary action.
“He provided me with the full assurance that any remedies internal to the Winnipeg Police Service would be applied in their fullest extent,” Nepinak said.
Earlier Wednesday, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Perry Bellegarde, accused police of failing to protect Fontaine.
"They should have done their job," Bellegarde said following a speech in Winnipeg. "They are there to serve and protect our people."
With a report from CTV Winnipeg’s Sheila North Wilson and files from The Canadian Press
