Families of 2 Indigenous people killed by N.B. police to gather for ceremony

The families of two Indigenous people recently shot to death by New Brunswick police were expected to meet Monday at a First Nation near Miramichi, N.B.

A message posted late Sunday on the Facebook page of the chief of the Metepenagiag First Nation says the two families were to gather at the home of the mother of Rodney Levi, the 48-year-old local man who was shot by an RCMP officer on Friday night.

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The message includes an invitation to all drummers from the local First Nation communities to gather at the home, where the Levi family will meet with relatives of Chantel Moore, the 26-year-old woman who on June 4 was shot by an officer with the Edmundston Police Department.

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The shootings have prompted calls for an independent inquiry and an overhaul of policing in the province, where the minister of Aboriginal affairs has already said there is a problem with systemic racism.

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As well, the shootings have become part of a broader international discussion about police brutality and racism, which has gained prominence since police in Minnesota were implicated in the death of a Black man during a violent arrest on May 25.

Quebec’s independent police watchdog agency has been called in to investigate both New Brunswick shootings because the province does not have its own such unit.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2020.