Investigators with Quebec’s independent police oversight body are heading to Edmundston, New Brunswick to probe the circumstances surrounding the death of a Port Alberni woman who was shot by police on Thursday morning.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said at a press conference Friday morning that he’s “outraged” by Chantel Moore’s death and that it’s part of a pattern of violence against Indigenous people.
The death of the 26-year-old from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation near Tofino has sent shock waves across the country at a time when people in cities across Canada and the United States are protesting police use of force against visible minorities and people of colour.
Police in Edmundston, N.B., say that at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday, officers received a request to check on Moore’s well-being at an apartment building on Canada Road in Edmundston.
Police say she was holding a knife and threatened the officers.
“At first the officer went on scene, and all of a sudden the person just exited the apartment with a knife and was attacking the officer,” Edmundston Police Force Insp. Steve Robinson told CBC News on Thursday. “He had no choice but to defend himself.”
Police and paramedics tried to resuscitate Moore, but she died at the apartment.
Eight investigators with Quebec’s Independent Investigations Office are being sent to the city in northwestern New Brunswick to determine if the information released by police is correct.
“I don’t understand how someone dies during a wellness check,” Miller said during a press conference Friday morning, appearing visibly upset.
“You look at it and you say: ‘Yes there will be an independent investigation,’ but frankly, along with many Canadians, Indigenous peoples living in Canada, politicians, I’m pissed, I’m outraged. There needs to be a full accounting of what has gone on. This is a pattern that keeps repeating itself.”
It’s been just over a year since the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which recommended sweeping reforms to the justice system and policing in Canada.
Doug White, chairman of the B.C. First Nations Justice Council, criticized the lack of government action following that report.
“De-escalation training and racial-bias training is urgently needed across this country to avoid another senseless loss,” he said in a statement.
Federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett said in a tweet Thursday that her heart is with the family and Moore’s loved ones deserve answers through the independent review.
“Another Indigenous woman is no longer with us,” Bennett wrote. “Significant work remains to ensure that all Indigenous women, girls, two-Spirit and gender diverse people have access to the supports they need and can walk safely, wherever they live.”
Moore, the mother of a five-year-old girl, had moved a few months ago from Port Alberni to New Brunswick, where her mother lives.
Nora Martin, Moore’s aunt, described her great-niece as a “kind, gentle and loving” person and said she had trouble believing Moore would charge at an officer with a knife.
“It’s very out of character. Chantel didn’t have a mean bone in her body,” said Martin, who works as a community health liaison with the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation. “As far as I’m aware of, she never had any trouble with law.”
Moore, who had recently started working at a hotel, had just moved into her own place after spending a weeks at her mother’s home in Edmundston.
Martin says Moore’s boyfriend, who was in Toronto, had asked the police to check in on her because she complained to him that she was being harassed by someone.
“He was worried about her,” she said. “[The officer] shot her five times. I don’t know if it was one bullet that hit her or all of them,” Martin said.
An autopsy has been scheduled.
Independent Investigations Office is asking anyone who witnessed the shooting to contact them through their website.
Martin says six members of her family are hoping to fly to New Brunswick on Friday to be with Moore’s mother and daughter. An online fundraising page set up to help support Moore’s daughter and family has already raised $81,637.
“I hope there is a full investigation,” said Martin.
— with files from Vancouver Sun
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