Notorious Canadian lawmaker won’t be fired for vile Charlie Kirk rant months after she mocked deaf people
A Canadian lawmaker has learned that she will not be fired for comments she made about Charlie Kirk that sparked backlash on social media.
Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine was told this week by Premier Wab Kinew that she could keep her job – so long as she apologizes for slamming Kirk in the wake of his assassination.
Fontaine took to Instagram after Kirk was killed in Utah and reshared a post that branded him a ‘a ‘racist, xenophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, sexist, white nationalist mouthpiece’.
The post that the minister shared offered empathy only for his children, and said ‘may they grow up to live in a country that is the total opposite of everything their father envisioned.’
‘Whether it was his genocide denial, his transphobia tirades, his pushing for mass deportations, or his normalizing Trumpism for years, the man stood for nothing but hate,’ it read.
‘I extend absolutely no empathy for people like that.’
The post was met with outrage, but Kinew said he would not fire her because he ‘doesn’t believe in cancel culture’ and felt ‘it would be too easy to show her the door.’
Kinew’s decision saw the Manitoba Premier also face fury, and The Winnipeg Sun ran a front page slamming his move and questioning in its headline: ‘What hold does Nahanni Fontaine have on Kinew?’
While Fontaine’s job was spared, the scrutiny over her remarks comes as a growing number of people have lost their jobs for mocking or celebrating Kirk’s death – including a Home Depot worker who refused to print flyers for a vigil.
Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine has learned that she will not be fired for comments she made about Charlie Kirk that sparked backlash on social media
Fontaine took to Instagram after Kirk was killed in Utah and branded him a ‘a ‘racist, xenophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, sexist, white nationalist mouthpiece’
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he would not fire Fontaine for her remarks because he ‘doesn’t believe in cancel culture’ and felt ‘it would be too easy to show her the door’
Explaining his decision to reporters on Friday, Kinew said: ‘It would be too easy to show her the door. It is a much harder task to say we’re going to work through this together.
‘I am going to try to help you understand why we need to bring people together and not divide people at this time.’
The under-fire lawmaker continued: ‘I think people need to be brought along and shown if we want a society that is one where we can express freely and have debate then we need to be showing empathy and compassion for people even when we don’t agree with them.’
Fontaine deleted her inflammatory story after several hours before sharing an apology on Instagram, writing: ‘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 and Kinew’s offices did not immediately respond to request for further comment when contacted by Daily Mail.
Kinew’s decision not to fire Fontaine drew backlash, as The Winnipeg Sun ran a front page slamming his move and questioning in its headline: ‘What hold does Nahanni Fontaine have on Kinew?’
Fontaine deleted her inflammatory story after several hours before sharing an apology on Instagram
Kinew himself condemned Kirk’s assassination and told 680 CJOB’s The Start that although he was sparing Fontaine’s job, he was disturbed by her remarks.
‘I’m hearing you read the words, and they’re terrible and they run completely against the thoughts that I was sharing, which is that we have to have empathy for other people in our society,’ he said.
‘Our whole thing is supposed to be compassion. We’re always making the argument on the left that, no, you can’t come in and throw people on the hood of a cop car right away, (you’ve) got to understand where they’re coming from.
‘But somebody says they don’t agree with abortion or somebody says they want to have gun laws be less restrictive… and now all of a sudden the compassion disappears? I don’t understand that.’
Fontaine invited backlash as she offered empathy only for his children, and said ‘may they grow up to live in a country that is the total opposite of everything their father envisioned’
The post from Fontaine is not the first time the minister has invited scrutiny, and last year she was forced to apologize for remarks she made about a sign language interpreter for deaf people that she shared a stage with
The post from Fontaine is not the first time the minister has invited scrutiny, and last year she was forced to apologize for remarks she made about a sign language interpreter for deaf people.
She shared a stage with the sign language interpreter in July, and was heard telling a person off-camera that she was ‘thrown-off- by the sign language next to her.
‘I couldn’t see anybody on this side,’ Fontaine said. ‘And all I could see was her.’
‘Frantic hand movements?’ another person said.
‘Yeah, I’m like, ‘F***, why did I have her on the stage?’ Jesus! I’m like, ‘You need to leave,’ she was heard saying.
After facing backlash for the hot mic moment, Fontaine said she would participate in deaf culture training and apologized.