Surrounded by hundreds of people gathered on the legislature lawn to pay tribute to her daughter Thursday, Chantel Moore’s mother recalled the early hours of June 4 when an Edmundston, N.B., police officer knocked on her door and asked for her daughter’s address to do a wellness check.
The 26-year-old had just moved into her own apartment, about six months after she moved from Port Alberni to the New Brunswick city to be close to her mother and six-year-old daughter, Gracie.
“I gave the police officer my daughter’s address, only to have them come back and knock on my door at 4:19 a.m. to give me the horrific news that would forever change our lives,” said Martha Martin, who flew to B.C. from Edmundston this week. Moore was a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation.
Police were performing the check after Moore’s boyfriend, who lives in Toronto, called police to say he was worried about her. Police say when the first officer arrived at the apartment, Moore was holding a knife and threatened the officer.
Wearing a white T-shirt that said “no justice, no peace” and “#chantelmoore,” Martin said it’s painful to know how alone and scared her daughter must have been in her last moments. And it’s painful knowing her daughter will never call her again to say good morning or ask if she’s free for coffee.
“Today, I am here to be my daughter’s voice. She was a daughter, a mother, an aunt, a granddaughter and, most important, she was human,” Martin said.
The healing ceremony started with five minutes of silence, one for each time Moore was shot. Indigenous drummers and singers led a song as family members gathered in a circle, held each other and cried.
Martin said she wants to see changes to how wellness checks are conducted “so that no other person has to feel this kind of pain.”
“It’s been two weeks today since my daughter was taken and I want to know why. I’m here to ask our leaders to stand with me to make the changes we so need and push for justice, because my daughter’s life mattered.”
Martin said she felt her daughter’s presence among the hundreds of people assembled for the healing gathering, many of whom wore yellow or gold as a tribute to Moore’s favourite saying, “Stay golden.”
Organizer Lydia Toorenburgh said the event was not a protest and was not about the police, but a time to heal and remember Moore.
New Brunswick has announced that Moore’s death will be the subject of a coroner’s inquest. The shooting is also being investigated by Quebec’s independent police oversight body.
On Saturday, marches were held across New Brunswick and in Halifax to remember Moore and 48-year-old Rodney Levi, who was shot dead by a New Brunswick RCMP officer near the Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation, after 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.
The cases underscore the need for mental-health officers to conduct wellness checks instead of police, said Riley Hayward, a speaker at the legislature, who described having an officer point a gun at her while she was in distress.
Laura Manson, who has known Moore since she was a little girl, said her death is devastating for everyone who knew her.
“I pray when you walk away from these grounds today, you will hear Martha’s cries, Martha’s cries for her daughter who is no longer with us … .[for] a beautiful soul taken too soon.”
