Tina Fontaine's memorial site to be moved as Alexander Docks deemed unsafe
CBC News | Posted: April 15, 2015 3:25 PM | Last Updated: April 15, 2015
Engineering assessment finds the docks no longer safe for public use
Winnipeg's Alexander Docks, the current site of Tina Fontaine's memorial, will be closed and blocked off with a fence and barricades because it has been deemed unsafe.
The city will be moving the memorial to a nearby location.
Tina's great aunt Thelma Favel still hasn't visited the site where the teen's body was pulled from the Red River last August,
"I just cannot. I still can't get myself to go there," said Favel.
But she's fine with the memorial being moved.
"It is a concern for other people's safety that they don't hurt themselves or fall through. So I told them it would be OK for them to move it off the docks," she said.
Man watches over memorial
A Winnipeg man who has been keeping an eye on the memorial says he he will continue to do that in its new location a few feet away.
Lawrence Corbiere, 59, sports a "security" hat and orange vest and says he visits Fontaine's memorial every day.
"It's always a touching thing when I come down here. Everybody has a spirit. So I feel or sense her spirit. At times when it's really cold in the winter, I would feel her. I would feel her spirit."
Corbiere didn't know Fontaine personally, but he said he knows what it's like to lose a loved one.
He said when he heard about the teen's death, he was compelled to do something.
"I told the family I would do the security for the monument to look after it," he said. "And I've been looking after it."
Corbiere said he's trying to do his part to protect aboriginal women.
He said if he sees a woman alone at night in the core area, he'll walk her safely to her destination.
"The way these things are happening in the city, these murdered and missing women, it has to stop," he said.
Family grateful for respect for teen's memory
Favel is grateful there is an effort to maintain Tina's memory.
"They know it's sacred, and they respect, and that's what touches my heart every time," Favel said.
She says the memorial will have flowers planted around it once it is moved to its permanent location.
The wooden dock, which is located at Alexander Avenue and Waterfront Drive was assessed during the winter and was found to be unsafe for public use.
The City of Winnipeg, Chief Derek Henderson of Sagkeeng First Nation, Fontaine's home community, and Favel are discussing how the memorial will be respectfully relocated to an accessible and appropriate site prior to the barricade being installed.
The city is assessing options for the future of the dock.