OTTAWA – Today, the Green Party of Canada remembers Chantel Moore, an Indigenous woman from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation who was shot and killed by Edmundston police during a wellness check at her home in New Brunswick on June 4, 2020. Ms. Moore had a young daughter.
Le Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI), an independent Quebec based agency, conducted an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ms. Moore’s death. Its report was delivered to the New Brunswick Coroner and New Brunswick Public Prosecution Services in December 2020 but, Ms. Moore’s family have yet to be provided with any details.
“This heartbreaking tragedy should never have happened,” said Green Party Leader Annamie Paul. “Chantel Moore’s family needs answers and justice now. To date they have received neither.
“There can be no reconciliation while Indigenous Peoples continue to be killed with impunity. Just last month another Tla-o-qui-aht/Nuu-chah-nulth person was shot by police. The tragic discovery of the remains of 215 children at the former Kamloops residential school has left the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation and Indigenous Peoples across the country grappling with even more despair.”
Following a number of deaths across Canada at the hands of law enforcement in the course of wellness checks, including that of Chantel Moore, Green MPs joined with Senator Kim Pate to support Judith Sayers, president of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, in asking Minister Bill Blair to set up a special task force into the use of wellness checks. The Green Party has also called on the government of Canada to create a national database on police use of force, disaggregated by race, ethnicity and other identities.
“On this day, our thoughts are with Chantel Moore’s family, and with all First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation communities who have lost friends and loved ones at the hands of law enforcement, or while in the care of other public institutions,” said Ms. Paul. “The Green Party will continue to petition the federal government to confront systemic racism within all public institutions. We must closely monitor how wellness checks are carried out across this country and ensure that they do not harm Indigenous Peoples and vulnerable groups. A call for help should never put a person in mortal danger.”
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Rosie Emery
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