The woman using her 38th birthday to celebrate Indigenous resilience

Fundraiser in honour of Indigenous resilience Fallon Farinacci shares details on a fundraiser in support of Indigenous women and youth in the community where she grew up.

WINNIPEG — With her 38th birthday coming up, Fallon Farinacci is using the occasion to celebrate Indigenous resilience.

This is because, on Sept. 16, 2021, she will surpass the age anyone in her immediate family had lived.

“I lost both my parents at the ages of 36 and 37, and then 11 years later, my older brother, at the age of 29,” she said. “So for me, to be the first in my family to be the age of 38, it’s quite overwhelming. A lot to process.”

Farinacci’s parents, Sherry and Maurice Paul were murdered in St. Eustache, Man. in 1993 when she was nine years old. Her brother died by suicide in 2004.

Farinacci said after journeying with the national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and testifying as a child survivor, she wanted to use her voice to create change.

She noted that with her birthday coming up, she didn’t want to sit in her grief, but rather turn it into something more.

“I thought, ‘why not do a fundraiser to support Indigenous women and Indigenous youth,’ and so I picked two organizations that are very close to my heart,” she said.

“One here in the Niagara region where I currently am and the other is in St. Eustache, Manitoba, my hometown.”

Farinacci created a fundraiser to raise money for the Abbey House Transitional Home for Indigenous women, and the Manitoba Metis Federation, St. Eustache Local.

“The idea behind it is to celebrate Indigenous resilience, the fact that I’m still here,” she said.

“It has been very overwhelming. I’d originally set a goal of $3,800 and within about a day I was surpassing that.”

Farinacci said she then set the goal to $10,000 and then increased it to $38,000 -- a goal that she has now surpassed.

Anyone who would like to donate to Farinacci’s fundraiser can do so on GoFundMe. 

- With files from CTV’s Nicole Dube.