A spokesperson for the family of Chantel Moore, the 26-year-old Port Alberni mother shot by police in New Brunswick during a wellness check, said a coroners inquest and independent investigation into her death will not bring about the systemic change needed to eliminate racism within Canadian police departments, which disproportionately use excessive force against Indigenous communities.
“The coroners inquest is not enough. The investigation [by Quebec’s Bureau des enquetes independantes] is not enough. We’re looking for justice for Chantel,” said Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council, which represents 14 First Nations along the west coast of Vancouver Island, including the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, of which Moore was a member.
“We need to have a definite re-think on policing in Canada. We need different ways to deal with people who are in distress. We need to address the systemic racism that we face all the time.”
Sayers said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair must immediately meet with Indigenous leaders to come up with better solutions for dealing with people experiencing mental-health issues.
On Friday night, eight days after Moore’s death, 48-year-old Rodney Levi was shot dead by a New Brunswick RCMP officer near the Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation. The RCMP were called to deal with an “unwanted person” at a barbecue. The RCMP have said a suspect carrying knives was jolted with a stun gun, but that failed to subdue him. He was shot when he charged at officers, police said.
“They were both needless, senseless killings,” Sayers said.
Hundreds of people attended healing walks across New Brunswick and in Halifax on Saturday to remember Moore and Levi.
A healing gathering for Moore is planned for Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in front of Victoria’s legislature buildings. People are asked to wear yellow in her memory.
Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said Monday that the only way to overcome racism in Canada’s policing agencies is to impose systemic change and a zero-tolerance policy aimed at eliminating the excessive use of force.
Bellegarde spoke with journalists via conference call to express his outrage following a series of violent, and in some cases fatal, encounters between police and Indigenous people across Canada.
“Police are there to protect and serve, not assault and kill,” he said from Ottawa.
“We’ve got to stop this tragedy of First Nations people getting hurt and/or killed at the hands of police. ... We know there is racism, both systemic and overt. ... In order to deal with systemic racism you need systemic change.”
On Saturday, the chief of the Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation, Bill Ward, said Levi had mental challenges but was not a violent man.
Moore was shot June 4 by an officer from the Edmundston Police Department who was performing a wellness check after Moore’s boyfriend, who lives in Toronto, called police to say he was worried about her. Police later said Moore threatened the officer with a knife.
Moore had moved to the northwestern New Brunswick city to be closer to her mother, Martha, and six-year-old daughter Gracie.
New Brunswick does not have its own independent police oversight agency, so Quebec’s police watchdog has been called to investigate both cases.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was important for the families of the victims to get answers.
“My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of those who’ve died,” he said. “We are working right now with communities to address the first things that need to be done most rapidly.”
The final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls recommended sweeping reforms to the justice system and policing in Canada, but Sayers said one year later, little progress has been made.
Canada’s policing system in rooted in its colonial legacy, Sayers said, and any police reforms should happen through ongoing dialogue with Indigenous communities which have the right of self-determination.
“We can’t wait for any more inquiries, we can’t wait for any more processes,” Sayers said. “This is a crisis, let’s deal with it as a crisis.”
— With The Canadian Press
