‘Tired’ of recommendations, Chantel Moore’s mother renews call for action on police reform

Two years after her daughter was killed by police during a wellness check, Martha Martin is resolute in her mission for justice and police reform.

The fatal shooting of Chantel Moore has “woken up a nation,” she explained, drawing attention to racism in justice and policing, and the crisis of violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit folks.

“You might have silenced my daughter but I’m going to continue to be the voice for her and each and every one of those who lost their lives,” Martin said Monday at the Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assembly in Vancouver.

“I’m so tired of hearing recommendations after recommendations and we see no action.”

Moore, 26, was killed by a police officer in Edmunston on June 4, 2020, after she advanced toward him with a knife during a wellness check. The Tla-o-qui-aht woman had just moved from Port Alberni, B.C. to the northwestern New Brunswick city to be closer to her daughter.

Last month, a jury in New Brunswick’s coroner’s inquest into the shooting ruled her death a homicide. A New Brunswick Police Commission investigation, however, had previously cleared the officer who killed her of any wrongdoing and no charges will be laid against him.

“Where do we go when the people who are supposed to be helping us are the ones that are murdering us?” asked Chief Constance Big Eagle, AFN’s Women’s Council chair, at the Monday press conference.

2:30 AFN national chief removed from assembly agenda

Members of the AFN will table two resolutions at the annual general assembly on Tuesday.

The first calls for support for Moore’s family and the implementation of the 231 Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). The second calls for support for sustainable funding and accountability for the implementation of those appeals.

“The calls tell us that the foundation for transformational change is establishing right relationships. We cannot wait for this new relationship to come five to 10 years from now,” said w̓úm̓xλaqs Louisa Housty-Jones, women’s representative for the B.C. AFN.

“Society must come to terms with the fact that colonial systems and policies and justice are functioning as they were designed — as tools to assist the destruction of Indigenous peoples’ systems of governance, culture and families, and to remove us from our territories.”

2:14 Day 2 of inquest into death of Chantel Moore

St. Mary’s First Nation Sakom (Chief) Allan Polchies Jr. and Oromocto First Nation Chief Shelley Sabattis joined Martin, Housty-Jones and Big Eagle in demanding substantial police reform in New Brunswick.

They called for stricter crime scene protocols, including tighter rules for handling evidence and police attendance on the scene of officer-involved incidents. They also asked for liaisons to communicate with families and communities where Indigenous peoples are concerned.

They urged the N.B. government, again, to launch a public inquiry into systemic racism against Indigenous peoples in criminal justice and policing. Premier Blaine Higgs has refused multiple calls for such an inquiry since Moore’s death, stating that existing recommendations from previous reports and inquiries into discrimination against Indigenous peoples could be implemented.

Global News has reached out to Higgs’ office for comment on this story.

2:05 Chantel Moore investigation

Martin is raising Moore’s daughter, Gracie, who is now eight years old. She said she wants her grandchild to grow up in a world free from racism and violence.

“She hears sirens, that little girl will hide under a table. Tell me that’s normal for an eight-year-old. She sees a cop, she’ll hide behind you. She shakes,” said Martin, tearfully.

“When they say serve and protect, who do they really service and protect? It feels like a whole lot of serve and protect themselves.”

Shortly after Moore was killed, Martin’s 23-year-old son, Mike Martin, died by suicide in police custody in Surrey, B.C. in November 2020. Martin said she remains “whole-heartedly” committed to changing a system that repeatedly fails Indigenous peoples.

“There’s always a way. We’re never stuck,” she said of repeated claims that widescale police reform is too complicated or expensive to implement.

Housty-Jones echoed Martin’s comments, saying provinces — including B.C. — are “wealthy” with recommendations of reform, but have little to show for it. She said police forces and governments must overcome “the institutional lack of will that leads to violence.”