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About 100 people gathered outside an apartment block in Winnipeg’s Point Douglas area Saturday night to pay tribute to the life of a mother of four whose life was cut short by violence this week.
Family, friends and others in the community who knew Danielle Dawn Ballantyne lit candles, sang traditional local songs and prayed together in a vigil for the 36-year-old woman who was found dead by police in an apartment in the 100 block of Jarvis Avenue in Monday.
Ballantyne, who was originally from the Missipawistik (Grand Rapids) First Nation but moved to Winnipeg about a decade ago, was a giving person who was very protective of her family, relatives said.
“She would go above and beyond,” Lorraine Ballantyne, a younger sister, said in a brief interview.
“She didn’t have much, but what she had, she gave it to us and to her children. Her children were the most important thing in her life. She would do anything for them.”
The death of Daniel Ballantyne was one of several serious violent attacks police were called to in the same general area of Winnipeg this morning, police said.
Two teenage girls were arrested and charged with second-degree murder in Ballantyne’s murder. They also each face a separate murder charge for killing another man hours before Ballantyne was found.
“We love her so much and we’re praying for the people who did this,” Ballantyne’s aunt Gail Ledoux said.
“We pray for them and we forgive them because my niece was a beautiful person. She loved everyone,” Ledoux said. “She always said I love you to everyone she met.”
Ballantyne was homeless when she died, relatives said.
Daryl Contois, who works with the Sabe Peace Walkers, said he met Ballantyne, who often visited the agency’s office at 190 Disraeli to have a bite to eat and watch TV.
“She would help people even though she needed help,” Contois said. “Danielle will be missed…may her spirit fly high and watch over us.”
Her uncle, Percy Ballantyne, called on Indigenous leaders to do more to support the thousands of First Nations people in Canada who live off-reserve. They are not getting enough resources, including funding and housing, he said.
“We need to go back to our culture, our value system and be kinder to each other and support each other as indigenous people,” he said to applause.
A uniformed member of the Winnipeg Police Service and several cadets attended the vigil. Several members of Ballantyne’s family thanked police for their help.
Her funeral is scheduled for Tuesday in Missipawistik.
Chief Heidi Cook told the CBC in an interview Friday that the community is coming together to support Ballantyne’s family. “Obviously it’s a shock to lose someone so suddenly,” Cook said.
“Danielle was loved by many people,” Cook said. “She didn’t deserve to die. Whatever was going on in her life, there was always hope that she would have a good life, that she would find peace.”
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