A new set of keys is aiming to help more people with new beginnings.
“This vehicle is going to be the next step in the program and hopefully we can just keep on going,” Della Steinke said.
Steinke is the owner of Mother Ink Tattoo Removal. For over 11 years, she has provided tattoo removal services to inmates and ex-gang members free of charge.
Between working in prisons and out of her own offices, Steinke is helping more people than ever.
“We have over 600, probably 675 clients, right now and we just keep building every month,” Steinke said.
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As demand for her services keeps growing, the province is stepping up.
“We’ve connected the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund directly to Mother Ink. We got them a vehicle that’s been seized from proceeds of crime,” Manitoba Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said.
The van will help Steinke remove even more tattoos across Manitoba.
“This vehicle, not only will I be using it for getting to places like Milner Ridge, but every five or six weeks I’ll be going up north and hoping to be in The Pas institution as well and actually go up to the reserves where there is a lot of gang problems,” Steinke said.
Steinke works closely with Winnipeg police, who accompany on her to her prison visits.
As Steinke expands her reach across the province with her new fan, she finds herself removing even more types of ink, including on former sex workers.
“Most people walking down the street wouldn’t recognize those tattoos as showing they worked the streets, but they know it and when they have gotten out of it, they don’t want that tattoo still on them,” she said.
Whether it’s gang or trauma-related tattoos, Steinke is on the way to erase the past in her new vehicle.
“I know I have to slow down at some point, but that’s not going to happen,” she said.
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