Community activist.
Born at Fort Alexander on 16 June 1928 to Pauline Courchene (1904-1992) and Joseph Xavier Guimond (1905-1948), she attended boarding school beginning at the age of three. She continued to live at Sagkeeng through the first half of her life, and married Stanley Ambrose Fontaine (1919-1997), with whom she went on to raise twelve children.
At the age of forty, she completed upgrading classes at Sagkeeng and then moved with the family to Winnipeg in 1969. There she got a job with Social Development in 1971-1972, and with the Native Alcoholism Council of Manitoba in 1973, which was later renamed the Native Addictions Council. She continued to work there until her death shortly after its 40th anniversary, marked in March 2012. During her tenure, she became one of the original workers and a supervisor/elder of the Pritchard House Treatment Program. During that time period, it is estimated that the agency helped approximately 70,000 clients from places across Canada, all of them getting to know Mary Fontaine at some point. She was once featured in a documentary entitled The Mother of Many Children.
Those who knew her recognized that, for her, the work she did was less of a job and more of a sacred responsibility to her fellow human beings. She put in long hours each day showing strength and kindness and leaving an indelible mark in the minds and hearts of clients, family, and friends. Her main message was one of respecting all people.
She died at Winnipeg on 17 April 2012 and was buried in the Brookside Cemetery.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 19 April 2012.
“Elizabeth Beatrice Guimond,” Bruyere, Clifford and Amelia Family Tree, Ancestry.ca.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 8 April 2026
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