Theodore Fontaine's Impact and Legacy

For Ted, real reconciliation came through everyday acts of generosity and kindness. Our breakfast meetings were often punctuated by Ted recognizing passers-by and stopping them for a quick hello and always a joke... He connected, related, and celebrated their shared existence, and thereby cultivated knowledge and nurtured learning..."

- Andrew Woolford

“Essentially, he was showing those students that they were important, worthy, and they mattered, made all the more poignant given he was not granted the same courtesy, or basic act of human decency, by those who worked in the schools he attended.”
- Suzanne Carrière

Canada’s first Métis citizenship judge, Suzanne Carrière, has presided over 1,900 citizenship ceremonies, personally welcoming over 140,000 newcomers into the Canadian family (as of April 2024). She uses her platform unfailingly to speak about reconciliation being a shared responsibility of all Canadians, whether Indigenous or non-Indigenous, whether born here or elsewhere.  In June 2021, Suzanne was honoured to preside over the very first citizenship ceremony in Canadian history to use a revised oath of citizenship recognizing the right of Indigenous Peoples, in response to the TRC Call to Action #94.  Suzanne Carrière is proudly Red River Métis on both sides of her family, and lives, works and plays on Treaty 1 territory with her husband and three children.

FH&O: Can you share a reflection or story about your relationship with Chief Fontaine?

SC: I first encountered Theodore Fontaine when I read Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools. What an incredible act of courage to put out such a painful story for all to read and learn from – it should be essential reading for all Canadians. I then met him and his wife Morgan in my role as a citizenship judge. We participated in many citizenship ceremonies together, and Elder Fontaine welcomed new Canadians with such warmth and generosity of spirit.

FH&O: How might you convey his wisdom and impact on you?

SC: What struck me most was how he would always bring a few students from the schools he worked into the ceremonies... He would introduce them to others and would mention them when he spoke during the ceremonies. Essentially, he was showing those students that they were important, worthy, and they mattered, made all the more poignant given he was not granted the same courtesy, or basic act of human decency, by those who worked in the schools he attended.

I miss Elder Fontaine’s smile, the twinkle in his eye when he spoke, and his hearty two-handed handshakes that conveyed all the warmth and love of an enthusiastic bear hug! He was a great man, a national treasure, and I am honoured to have known him and shared a friendship with him.

Lianna McDonald

"Until his passing, Theodore continued to gift our staff, our city and our country with stories full of rich teachings...Sharing these small events was a way to help others grasp the bigger issues of isolation, need, and hate that Theodore and his classmates endured."
- Lianna McDonald

Lianna McDonald, the Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P). Since 1998, she has guided the agency from its grass roots origins to a leading organization on the international stage in the fight against child victimization.

FH&O: Can you share a reflection or story about your relationship with Chief Fontaine?

LM: I first met Theodore Fontaine on a cold morning right before Christmas in 2014. One of our staff had found him sitting in his red car in the parking lot. He told us he was a survivor who attended classes at the Assiniboia Indian Residential School; the building that is now home to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. He explained he often parked out back to visit old memories and recall his years at school. We invited him to spend the morning with our team a few weeks later where he generously shared both his time and his memories – the hard ones and the happier ones – to help us better understand the shadowed history of our building and the impacts of residential schools across Canada.

FH&O: How might you convey his wisdom and impact on you?

LM: Until his passing, Theodore continued to gift our staff, our city and our country with stories full of rich teachings – hockey scouts climbing the fence to see the students play, “borrowing” vegetables from the neighbour’s garden, hearing people from the neighbourhood walk by and yell “war whoops” at the school. Sharing these small events was a way to help others grasp the bigger issues of isolation, need, and hate that Theodore and his classmates endured. We are forever grateful to him for being so willing to revisit such difficult times and bring light to an important part of our past that must be understood, both for our history and future.

Nate Leipciger

"As survivors of the Holocaust and Residential Schools, we carry difficult memories, deeply concealed in our subconscious mind.  Theo’s courageous revelation of his mistreatment encouraged me to tell about the abusive treatment I was subjected to during the Holocaust."

- Nate Leipciger

Nate Leipciger was born in Chorzow, South West Poland, in 1928. He survived 7 concentration camps including Auschwitz-Birkenau. He immigrated to Canada in 1948, where he attended high school and obtained a university degree in engineering. In 2019 Nate was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Toronto for his tremendous contributions in the field of Holocaust Education. Nate is also an advisory board member for Facing History and Ourselves and winner of the FHAO Upstander Award.

Andrew Woolford

“Theodore (Ted) Niizhotay Fontaine was my friend. This is an important fact because Ted taught me to emphasize relationships rather than research.”

- Andrew Woolford 

Andrew Woolford is professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Manitoba, an emeritus member of the Royal Society of Canada College, and former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. He is author of ‘This Benevolent Experiment’: Indigenous Boarding Schools, Genocide and Redress in the United States and Canada (2015) and Between Justice and Certainty: Treaty-Making in British Columbia (2005), as well as co-author of The Politics of Restorative Justice (2019) and Informal Reckonings: Conflict Resolution in Mediation, Restorative Justice, and Reparations (2005). He is co-editor of Did You See Us? Reunion, Remembrance, and Reclamation at an Urban Indian Residential School (2021) Canada and Colonial Genocide (2017), The Idea of a Human Rights Museum (2015), and Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America (2014).  

AW: Theodore (Ted) Niizhotay Fontaine was my friend. This is an important fact because Ted taught me to emphasize relationships rather than research. I first reached out to him after reading his memoir, Broken Circle, which captures the genocidal violence of Canadian assimilation policies so forcefully and poignantly. Soon, we were meeting regularly for breakfast and dreaming up ways to do research differently. He did not hesitate when I invited him to head up a Survivor Advisory Council for the Embodying Empathy project, which created a virtual reality replica of the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School. During our meetings about Embodying Empathy, he stated, “Something needs to be done about Assiniboia. People don’t know that there was a residential school in Winnipeg.” This began our ongoing work on commemorating the Assiniboia Residential School.

FH&O: How might you convey his wisdom and impact on you?

AW: Our first accomplishment was a reunion event in 2017 that brought together Survivors and their families with River Heights neighbours to connect with and learn from each other. Since then, an edited volume of Survivor remembrances and a commemorative site for the school grounds have been completed. Respect and relationships have been at the centre of all this work. For Ted, real reconciliation came through everyday acts of generosity and kindness. Our breakfast meetings were often punctuated by Ted recognizing passers-by and stopping them for a quick hello and always a joke. No matter how long ago they had met, Theodore recognized them, knew their names, and remembered something about them. He connected, related, and celebrated their shared existence, and thereby cultivated knowledge and nurtured learning – just as he did with thousands of young people through his frequent school presentations. During his convivial and lively interactions, he was a "Victor," as he liked to say, rather than a Survivor, overcoming a system that sought to sever him from community, identity, and hope.

Siobhan Faulkner

"I learned about true humility, never being more or less than anyone in this circle of life. I learned about love for all of humanity as I listened and watched Elder Theodore walk and talk with others."

- Siobhan Faulkner 

Siobhan Faulkner is an educator from Winnipeg. She has spent most of her teaching career trying to learn as much as she can about the national tragedy that is residential schools. Her joy and passion comes from seeing youth correcting the history of Canada. Siobhan is humbled by the strength and power of the survivors such as Theodore and his classmates at Assiniboine Residential School.

FH&O: Can you share a reflection or story about your relationship with Chief Fontaine?

SF: This is one of my favorite pictures of Elder Theodore Fontaine. The beautiful smile he shared with children, with all of us, made the world a brighter place. My relationship with Elder Theodore was one of teacher to learner. I spent many hours listening to seminars, talks and workshops he spoke at, always accompanied by his life partner Morgan. His kindness, forgiveness and his love for Morgan radiated from him. I learned about true humility, never being more or less than anyone in this circle of life. I learned about love for all of humanity as I listened and watched Elder Theodore walk and talk with others. I have spent much more time with Morgan and the legacy of Elder Theodore lives on through her. I watch the same gentle spirit that I saw with Elder Theodore. 

FH&O: How might you convey his wisdom and impact on you?

SF: My response to the Calls to Actions is to bring the joy of children to Theodore Niizhotay Fontaine Park. We have brought our students to listen to listen to his story beside the building that caused so much pain and to bring his residential school story, teachings and true history of Canada into the classrooms. We have brought our students to listen to his story beside the building that caused so much pain. We honour Elder Theodore’s presence in our school and bring his teachings alive by mentoring youth in the community to live as Theodore lived, to live a good life. We empower our students to feel they can share the true history of Canada and speak the truth about residential schools. Their love for Elder Theodore, through his stories inspires students to do this in a respectful way. For me, the spirit of Theodore lives on in these young people who believe it is their responsibility to change Canada.

Students at Theodore Niizhotay Fontaine Park