Chantel Moore was shot and killed by an Edmundston police officer on June 4. Submitted photo.
This opinion piece was sent out to the media from Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association President Annie Bernard Daisley.
Seven Minutes.
What can happen in seven minutes? Can a life change? Can many lives change? Will the seven minutes alter or eliminate your existence?
In Chantel Moore’s case, in seven minutes, her life ended tragically. The nation will forget because she is Indigenous.
Let us be honest, it is because she is Indigenous, there is no national outcry. There is no one marching through the streets, no one looting, no one taking the knee for her and nor will the prime minister bend down on one knee to acknowledge her death.
Because she is Indigenous.
Our nation of Indigenous people is sick to death of inquiries. Inquiries that result in calls to action. What is action? Action would indicate a plan in moving forward. A plan that would address issues that impact our everyday life.
For now, after many questions and being ignored or given vague answers, I have resigned myself to believe that there are no plans.
The federal government had nine months pre COVID to come up with a plan in addressing the 231 calls to justice (from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls).
There is no plan, or they are now scrambling to come up with one.
For seven minutes Chantel Moore lay dead at the end. Five gunshot wounds into a 100-pound woman, tiny in stature. The police officer claimed he was afraid for his own life. I call BS on that. He said she was holding a knife. I laugh sarcastically at that. A big strapping man, full of strength and power, a police officer. He was afraid of a 100-pound woman, so he shot her five times.
He is back to work. Jeremy Son should be fired, charged and convicted of Chantel Moore’s murder.
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What did we ever do to you Canada?
You have treated our lives as though we are disposable, that we do not matter. Our lives come and go to you. We are just a number. You took from us and you still do. You do it quietly and secretly. You hide behind inquiries, you hide behind the police force, you hide behind a “knife”, you hide your hate. But we see and feel it.
I am sick and tired of this. My heart hurts for our nation. Chantel Moore left behind a daughter, Gracie. I had the greatest opportunity to meet her mother, Martha Martin, what a beautiful person she is. She is full of life, energy, and love. Love between a mother and daughter and now she is full of sadness and grief. I have seen her pain.
I have seen the same pain in many families left behind to grieve for their loved ones who left this world at the hands of a murderer.
Perhaps, Canada, if you think of us in this light, then you will realize that we are human. Animals in this country have more protection than we do. If that policeman shot a dog that violently, he would be still off work. He would have been considered a threat, angry and dangerous.
Instead he shot and killed an Indigenous woman, he is back to work with no consequences for his actions.
I am requesting a further push from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) to step up their advocacy for the people we have lost. It is time we stand united. Strength comes in numbers and unity, let us unite on this very important issue. Let us all fight for Chantel.
I am calling out Carolyn Bennett as well. As a woman who represents the entire nation of First Nations people in Canada, as the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations. Where is your voice for us? Step up and help us or move onto something else. You are in the epicenter of where change can occur. Help us live. Fight for us! Fight for Chantel.
Chantel Moore, Rodney Levi and Brady Francis deserve justice. These families are left to grieve their loved ones, leaving a nation of Indigenous people scratching our heads wondering why and where is their justice? There are over 4,000 Indigenous women in Canada missing or murdered, most left unsolved. What about our Indigenous men? They also deserve justice and a call to action.
Canada it is time to clean your house before you help and try to clean others. You have sent funds to help female causes in other countries, yet you sit and watch us die. You watch us get murdered and you do nothing.
From the time that Jeremy Son showed up at Chantel’s house to perform a wellness check, within seven minutes, she lay dead on her floor.
Seven minutes.
What she endured in those seven minutes will be between herself and the officer. Only one lives. It took seven minutes to end a life. I demand that Jeremy Son, the police officer who murdered an Indigenous woman on a wellness check be fired, charged and convicted.
To Martha, we will be here for you in the east coast. To Chantel, to Rodney to Brady, we will not forget.
Brady Francis deserves a retrial, a fair one.
Rodney Levi deserves justice.
Chantel Moore deserves justice.
All our missing and murdered Indigenous people deserve justice.
