Winnipeg park renamed in honour of Elder Ted Fontaine, who attended nearby residential school

A Winnipeg park has been renamed in honour of an elder and former Sagkeeng First Nation chief who died last year, and dedicated much of his life to telling others about his experience at a nearby residential school.

At an unveiling ceremony Wednesday, Wellington Park was officially renamed Theodore Niizhotay Fontaine Park.

When he was seven years old, Theodore (Ted) Fontaine — who died in May 2021 at age 79 — was forced to attend the Fort Alexander residential school, located in what is now Sagkeeng First Nation, his home community.

He later attended the  Assiniboia residential school in Winnipeg, which was located next to the park now named after him.

"This land was very special to him," Fontaine's wife, Morgan Fontaine, said after Wednesday's unveiling ceremony.

"It symbolized a place where he and the other students could come out and not be supervised and dominated and observed."

She and River Heights-Fort Garry Coun. John Orlikow unveiled the sign bearing the park's new name at a Wednesday morning ceremony, which began with a drum song and prayer.

The City of Winnipeg approved the name change for the park in May of this year, as part of council's effort to rename parks and trails to better reflect Indigenous history.

Ted Fontaine "worked tirelessly to share his healing journey with others," Orlikow said in a news release announcing the name change.

Fontaine often shared his experiences at the school, including writing a memoir called Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools — not just to heal himself, he wrote, but also others who suffered like him.

He also became a highly respected chief of Sagkeeng First Nation, in eastern Manitoba, and was also an elder and a traditional knowledge keeper for his home community.

He spent his final years in Winnipeg, living in the River Heights neighbourhood. Morgan Fontaine says he would visit the Wellington Crescent park throughout the week.

"We would be driving up Wellington Crescent and he would say, 'Do you mind if we stop?'" she recalled.

They would pull in, park the car, and often sit in silence as they looked over the land. 

The park was the first place Ted and his classmates felt a bit of freedom, Morgan said.

"For all the years, from [age] seven to his arrival here, he had no freedom at all. And this was a space where they reclaimed their identity, where they could speak their language, where they could be themselves," she said.

Out of his class of 99 students at the Assiniboia school, two-thirds died in early adulthood as a result of their trauma from their school experience, Morgan said. Her husband remembered every one of them by name.

"On an every day basis, this will be a place that families and children can come and be themselves, and play, and laugh. And the spirits of those who are so treasured here will be uplifted by that. This is really a legacy for all of them."