Terrie Anne Dauphinais was a 24-year-old Métis mother of three.
It’s a major moment in the life of Sue Martin’s family – news of an arrest.
“We got that phone call,” Sue said Friday. “My husband said, ‘Is this the call I’ve been waiting for, that we’ve been waiting for, for 16 years and 22 days?’”
She and Tony Martin cried together after speaking with the homicide detective.
“It’s out of our hands now,” Sue added via phone. “It’s in the courts hands, it’s in the detectives’ hands.”
On May 21, Calgary police arrested Kenneth Dauphinais in connection with the 2002 slaying of his estranged wife Terrie Ann Dauphinais at Calgary Airport.
Police say the 43-year-old accused was living in Winnipeg and known to police from the onset of the investigation. He is charged with second-degree murder and remains in custody.
Sue Martin says police did not tell the parents what led to the arrest. Only that Kenneth was always considered a suspect.
“It’s part of the evidence, is what we’re thinking.”
Terrie was 24 when she was found dead in her northwest Calgary home on April 29, 2002. Her three children were safe and locked in their rooms.
Sue says she and Tony have only seen the grandchildren twice since then. But think of them often and encourage others to do the same.
“Don’t pray for us – we’re OK,” said Sue. “Lift your pipes up, light that sacred fire, send those prayers out, have those prayer circles for the three children. Tony and I are fine.”
Sue knows this is a turning point as the mother of one of hundreds of slain Indigenous women in Canada.
She encourages other families to keep the faith.
“Don’t give up,” she said. “Keep on calling and do what you have to do, but do it in a good way. Lay your medicines down, pray to our Creator, pray to our ancestors.
“Walk in that good way without anger and hate. And I know that’s hard to do.”
Sue supports the request to double the inquiry’s mandate commissioners have submitted to Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett. The commissioners are still waiting for a response.
“This part of us fighting for so long for justice is done for Terrie,” Sue said.
