The Winnipeg Police Service has made an arrest after Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine was the target of threats and harassment.
According to investigators, the incidents spanned from July to September 2025, when the elected official received multiple letters from an unknown person. Police allege the letters contained racist comments and the threat of violence.
Fontaine told reporters on Tuesday her office received multiple envelopes with messages she described as “violent” and “grotesque” beginning in July. She and her staff reported them to police.
In September, the same time her office was the target of alleged arson and vandalism, Fontaine said a second threatening message was sent to her office. She never saw the message, but her staff did and notified police.
During the investigation, police identified a suspect.
On Saturday, officers searched a home in the northwest part of the city and arrested a 72-year-old man. The suspect faces charges of criminal harassment and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.
The suspect was released on an undertaking. None of the charges have been tested in court.
Police continue to investigate. Anyone with information can contact police at 204-986-6219.
‘You’re expected to just take it’
Fontaine said she has received regular threats since she was elected as MLA in 2016, but the intensity of the messages and their content have become “exponentially worse” since the pandemic.
“Something happened during COVID where all of a sudden, a light switch went off and people felt more emboldened to send things, to say things, to do things, to send you DMs,” she said, noting this is a daily or weekly occurrence for her.
According to Fontaine, she frequently gets sexist or racist messages and noted it’s often BIPOC MLAs such as herself who are targeted and expected to remain silent.
“You’re expected to just take it, year after year, day after day, the abuse that is levelled at you,” she said. “For me personally, that’s one of the hardest things, that I can’t respond in the way that I’d like to respond.”
Fontaine hopes talking about these threats will lead to a greater understanding of what politicians go through and change peoples’ attitudes.
“It’s not okay,” she said. “Yes, I’m a public servant, but so are teachers, so are police officers. You wouldn’t go up to a police officer and say the things you say to me. You wouldn’t go up to a teacher. But for some reason, politicians in public office are expected to take it.”
