Police probe Fontaine office fire

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba cabinet minister’s office was the subject of a fire Tuesday morning.

Winnipeg police say the major crimes unit is investigating the fire at Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine’s office on Main Street in Winnipeg. Crews were called to the building around 5 a.m. and the blaze was declared under control approximately 40 minutes later, a media release states.

The minister’s office had its windows smashed just over one week ago. NDP cabinet minister and Point Douglas MLA Bernadette Smith’s North End constituency office has also been hit by fire four times, starting in the beginning of August.

“This is a serious matter that is currently under police investigation, so we will not be commenting further at this time,” a spokesperson for Fontaine told the Winnipeg Free Press.

Premier Wab Kinew addressed the incident during a speech at the Oodena Circle at The Forks, as part of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization’s annual Orange Shirt Healing Walk on Tuesday.

“I just want everyone here to make a ton of noise and send support to Nahanni Fontaine,” Kinew said. “We’ve got your back and everyone deserves to be safe when they go to work.”

Kinew told the crowd that in a time of rising division in the country, Manitobans need to keep the peace and keep calm, pointing to residential school survivors, who he said changed Canada for the better in an “entirely peaceful and compassionate way.”

Fontaine came under fire last month after an Instagram post that was critical of controversial Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, shortly after he was assassinated at a Utah college.

The post claimed that Kirk was “racist, xenophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic” individual who “stood for nothing but hate.” It went on to say, “I extend absolutely no empathy for people like that.”

Fontaine later deleted the post and apologized.

“I apologize for sharing a post yesterday on the murder of Charlie Kirk. Violence has no place in our democracy. Political debate is achieved with words and discussion. In a world too often divided, we should strive to show empathy to everyone, even those we don’t agree with,” Fontaine’s written statement said.

Kinew stood by the minister, saying it would be “too easy” to fire her.

“It would be too easy to show her the door,” Kinew said, adding he doesn’t believe in cancel culture. “People need to be brought along and shown … we need to be showing empathy and compassion to people even when we don’t agree with them.”

The premier said he would help Fontaine understand the need to “bring people together and not to divide people at this time.”

Kinew wouldn’t go into detail about their conversation, but hinted it touched on thinking twice before posting on social media.

He said he’s concerned about the threat faced by people in the public eye, such as himself and he understands the need to de-escalate issues and foster constructive conversations over hot-button topics.

» Winnipeg Free Press