‘We are not experiencing isolated incidents’: Calls for justice for Chantel Moore, Rodney Levi

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Tabatha Frank wants people to know that her niece Chantel Moore was loved, and she spoke at a rally Saturday to amplify calls for answers –and justice–  after Moore was shot by police.

Moore, a 26-year-old mother and member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation on Vancouver Island, was killed on June 4 in Edmunston New Brunswick.

Police were dispatched to Moore’s home do a “wellness check” because a friend in B.C. was concerned for her safety.

“The police need to be held accountable for their actions,” Frank said.

“The person that shot my niece, the police officer has never come forward to apologize, or to say how things went down. He doesn’t feel remorse for our family, he doesn’t know what we’re going through. This was supposed to be a wellness check. She left her five-year-old daughter. Gracie’s going to grow up with no mother, and the [police] haven’t even come forward to say anything aside from her being shot.”

Frank said Moore’s death needs to be understood in the context of violence against Indigenous women, and systemic racism within police forces and Canadian society.

“I’m angry, I’m frustrated. As an Indigenous woman, I don’t even know how safe I am just walking these streets. I’m doing it anyway because of my niece and I want to make sure that she gets the justice that she deserves, and for all our Nuu-chah-nulth people. The entire community is mourning for her, everybody on the Island is mourning for her because she was loved. She was cared for because she was a nice person. So I’m angry, I’m frustrated.”

The shooting is being investigated by Quebec’s independent police investigation agency, but the chiefs of the Wolastoqey First Nation, on whose territory Chantel was shot, are demanding a review of the province’s entire justice system.

“Canada has a long and tragic history of violence and unequal legal treatment towards Indigenous people, and particularly towards Indigenous women and girls, as documented by the recent national inquiry,” the chiefs wrote in a statement.

“South of the border, and here in Canada, many thousands of people are protesting the systematic mistreatment of racial minorities by police and the justice system. Considering this context, a completely independent and unbiased review of this incident is critical and we insist that one occur.”

Lorelei Williams, a Vancouver advocate with a deeply personal connection to the issue of violence against Indigenous women and girls accompanied Frank to Saturday’s rally.

“I don’t even know Chantel but I do a lot of work around the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,” she said.

“I know how it feels with my missing aunt, my murdered cousin, growing up around violence. It hurts my heart just to think about Chantel and what she went through. I get so emotional. These are my people.”

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs is also demanding an inquiry into Moore’s death, pointing out that Indigenous people are disproportionately likely to become victims of fatal police violece.

“A recent access to information request revealed that one-third of the people shot to death by RCMP officers over a 10-year period are Indigenous, despite indigenous people only making up 5 per cent of the population,” said UBCIC in a statement. 

Police union responds to Moore’s death

In a statement released after Moore’s death, police said that Moore “charged” the officer who was attending “with a knife as soon as the door opened.”

The City of Edmundston and the Edmundston Police Force said Friday they will make no further comment.

The New Brunswick Police Association, the union representing municipal police officers in that province, however, has released a statement.

“We are saddened that one of our members was involved in a fatal shooting and our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected. No police officer wants to be put in a life and death situation that can result in injury or death but they do occur. We are very aware of the split-second life and death situations our officers are called upon to deal with,” it reads.

“It is unfortunate that a number of public statements have been made before a full independent investigation has been conducted. Making uninformed statements regarding a serious and emotional situation does a disservice to the public relations between police officers and the citizens they serve.”

The statement says the union fully supports the independent investigation into Moore’s death, and will not comment further until it is concluded.

‘We are not experiencing isolated incidents’

On Friday, Rodney Levi was shot and killed by the RCMP in New Brunswick.

Chief Bill Ward of the Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation says Rodney Levi shouldn’t have become the province’s second victim of a fatal police shooting in less than a month.

He says Levi had his demons — but he never tried to harm anybody.

“He didn’t talk or have an intimidating voice, or intimidating gestures. He wasn’t that type of person, he was very friendly, he could be very polite,” Ward said.

He commented after Levi was shot dead by police Friday near Miramichi when he went to his church looking for help.

Quebec’s Bureau des enquetes independantes is investigating Levi’s death, as it is Moore’s.

It says RCMP responded to a report of a disturbed person in the Miramichi area when officers found the man armed with a knife, in a building. It said police used an electronic stun gun on Levi several times without success.

Investigators say the man was allegedly shot when he charged police.

The Chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation issued a statement on Levi’s death Saturday.

“As we have said all week, we are not experiencing isolated incidents. This is just further proof that systemic discrimination is pervasive in this province,” it reads.

“Today we walk across the region to heal and honour Chantel Moore, and now Rodney Levi, and all those that have fallen victim to injustice. We hold silent vigils for our fallen sister and brother and we pray for a better day.”

Williams said that the pair of police shootings in New Brunswick can’t be isolated from institutionalized, systemic mistreatment of Indigenous people in Canada.

“It’s not just Chantel and [Rodney Levi], this is happening all the time.”

With files from Bethlehem Mariam and The Canadian Press