Always happy, baking treats and caring for kids: How Thelma Favel remembers Tina Fontaine

Tina Fontaine was a bright, fun-loving kid. That's how Thelma Favel wants people to remember her great-niece and the legacy that's being created in her memory. 

"She had so much love for kids. Always happy. She loved to bake. She was a very, very respectful little girl," Favel said.

• How Tina Fontaine died remains a mystery

There was a time, Fontaine's great-aunt and caregiver couldn't speak about her without breaking down into tears. There was also a time, for two years her death, Favel couldn't leave her home.

"When Tina left I gave her a pre-paid long distance phone card and I always had in my mind that she was going to use it, and I was scared to miss that call," Favel said. "Even though we had the funeral and everything and I knew she was gone. But in my heart I couldn't let her go."

To this day, Favel can't leave her living room curtains open.

"Because I'm always looking down the road to see if she's coming home."

But she is finding strength through Fontaine's spirit and through sharing circles in Sagkeeng First Nation. She speaks with other women going through similar circumstances.

"I can talk about her now without breaking down. Like letting it out instead of keeping it in. I bring her alive when I talk about her," Favel said.

In February, Favel found the strength to be in court for the second-degree murder trial of Raymond Cormier in Winnipeg. When the jury came back with a verdict of not guilty, Favel was clear she didn't want the community to react with violence.

"She died a violent death. And it's gotta stop somewhere. I just want it to stop," she said.

"Everybody wants to retaliate but that's not going to bring Tina back. Nothing's going to bring her back but I want her memory to be full of love, full of respect — just like the kind of life that she led here. I don't know the Tina that was portrayed in the city. I've never seen that side of her," Favel added.

Recently Favel has been able to see the love and respect given to Fontaine's memory. In March, she was part of the ceremony for a 24-hour, 7-day a week safe house opening at the Ndinawe Youth Resource Centre in Winnipeg. Favel said she didn't have the words to describe what it meant to her that the centre would be named, The Tina Fontaine Safe Haven.

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"That's what I wanted. And that's what Tina wanted. She always wanted to work with kids. She wanted to work with CFS. We used to listen to the court trials for Phoenix Sinclair and she said, 'I want to work with them so no other baby dies like that,' and she wanted to make a difference," Favel reflected. "And I said to my husband, 'She's doing it. She is making a difference.'"

At that same ceremony, Favel was presented with a rose welded by two students at R.B. Russell Vocational High School. Trinity Harry and Joseph Ginter, both Grade 11 students, created it with Tina's name in the centre of the flower and on its leaves.

"It's as though someone grabbed my heart and was just squeezing. I just felt so much love for that rose and for the students that did it," Favel said.

She was so moves by the gesture, Favel asked that it stay with the youth in the Tina Fontaine Safe Haven.

"So they can have hope. That rose represents hope for them. Tina will be watching over them," she said.

"It's just so sad that she had to die such a tragic death for people to open their eyes to know that there was a problem out there. But it also gives me hope for other kids now because she left that legacy." Favel said.