Her family and advocates are still seeking justice and say more must be done. “Where do we go when the people who are supposed to be helping us are the ones who are murdering us?” Ocean Man First Nation Chief Connie Big Eagle, chair of the Assembly of First Nations Women’s Council, said Monday during a press conference in Vancouver. “We have to find solutions and we have to be included in those solutions.” Connie Big Eagle, chief of the Ocean Man First Nation in Saskatchewan, is the chair of the AFN Women’s Council. (Ka’nhehsí:io Deer/CBC) Chiefs from across Canada are gathering in Vancouver this week for the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) annual general meeting. The organization’s women’s council, which works to ensure First Nations women’s concerns and perspectives inform AFN’s work, advocates for greater police accountability and justice for Moore’s family. Moore, a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in BC, was shot and killed by an Edmundston, NB police officer who was dispatched to check on her welfare on June 4, 2020. In May, a New Brunswick medical examiner ruled her death a homicide. In 2021, the New Brunswick Police Commission found there was “insufficient evidence” that the officer violated the Code of Professional Conduct regulation. The New Brunswick District Attorney’s Office said it will not press charges against the officer. Moore’s family says there is no justice. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to shut up,” said Moore’s mother, Martha Martin. “I’m so tired of seeing recommendation after recommendation and not seeing any action. Until I see hard action, we’re going to keep making noise.” Chantel Moore with her daughter Gracie. Moore was killed by police in 2020. (Submitted by Grace Frank) His son Martin killed himself while in police custody in 2020, five months after Moore. “There were several shots fired after that,” Martin said. “This list can go on and on… We need our leadership to step in and start making action plans. I’m done seeing recommendations. I want to see tough action.”
Resolutions to implement summonses for justice
The AFN Women’s Council is pushing for the implementation of the 231 Calls for Justice made by the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Two draft resolutions will be introduced during the general assembly this week: in support of Chantel Moore’s family and the implementation of 231 Calls for Justice, and in support of sustainable funding and accountability for the implementation of 231 Calls for Justice. “We are here in solidarity to say that Chantel will not be forgotten,” said BC Women’s Council spokeswoman Louisa Housty-Jones. “We must continue to push for justice for Sandel and all those who have experienced death and abuse at the hands of the police.”
