For the second time in less than two weeks, federal leaders are saying “we need to do better” after a jury found an accused man not guilty in the death of a young Indigenous person.

A Manitoba jury acquitted 56-year-old Raymond Cormier of second-degree murder Thursday in connection with the death of Tina Fontaine, a 15-year-old girl whose body was found wrapped in a duvet and dumped in Winnipeg’s Red River in 2014.

Indigenous leaders quickly compared the verdict to the case of Colten Boushie, the 22-year-old Indigenous man from Saskatchewan who was shot in the head on a rural farm. Lawyers for the accused, Gerald Stanley, who was holding the weapon, argued that the gun went off in a “freak accident.”

The jury found Stanley not guilty.

Shortly after the acquittal in the Tina Fontaine case, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett tweeted that “we need to do better” and “fix this.”

“My thoughts are with Tina Fontaine’s family. Tina's is a tragic story that demonstrates the failures of all the systems for Indigenous children and youth on every level. We need to do better -- we need to fix this,” Bennett tweeted.

Minister of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott echoed those comments, tweeting Thursday: “We must do better. Justice and our common humanity demand it.”

The ministers’ comments are strikingly similar to Trudeau’s reaction after the Boushie verdict. The morning after Stanley’s acquittal, Trudeau said “we have to do better.”

"Indigenous people across this country are angry, they're heartbroken, and I know Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians alike know that we have to do better," Trudeau said.

That led to some accusing Trudeau of undermining the court’s verdict. Conservative Indigenous affairs critic Cathy McLeod tweeted that her thoughts were with the Boushie family, but we “need to let the many steps of an independent judicial process unfold without political interference.”

As of Thursday night, Trudeau -- who is in India -- has not responded to the Cormier verdict.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh strongly condemned the justice system following the trial’s outcome, saying it “continues to fail Indigenous people.”

“Tina Fontaine was 15 years old. She was brutally murdered. The system failed her every step of the way - even in seeking justice. Our justice system continues to fail Indigenous people. We all have a responsibility to fix it,” Singh said in a tweet.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has not commented on the verdict.

Manitoba NDP MP Niki Ashton said she was “shocked and disgusted” following the acquittal.

“Tina is a symbol of #MMIWG in our country - and this is the signal [Canadian] society sends? No justice. No peace. We must stand up to this injustice,” Ashton tweeted.

NDP Charlie Angus quoted Sgt. John O’Donovan, a Winnipeg homicide investigator, who said early on in the case, "We would be horrified if we found a litter of kittens or pups in this condition. This is a child that has been murdered. Society should be horrified."

“Oh Canada what is it going to take?” Angus tweeted.

Standing outside the Winnipeg courtroom on Thursday, Indigenous leader Sheila North said “we as a nation need to do better for our young people. All of us.”

"All of us should be ashamed of what happened to her and Colten Boushie and to others," said North, grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.

"The systems -- everything -- involved in Tina's life failed her. We've all failed her.”

With files from The Canadian Press