One year after Chantel Moore was fatally shot by a police officer in New Brunswick during what was supposed to be a wellness check, her family is still waiting for answers.
On Friday family members of Moore, originally from the Tofino-area Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation, sat on the steps of the B.C. legislature. They wore yellow shirts – alluding to how Moore would tell friends to ‘stay golden peeps’ – and held signs saying ‘Justice for Chantel’ and ‘Supposed to protect and serve, not kill people.’
“(The family is feeling) the same as I am, very hurt and upset,” said Joseph Martin, a Tla-o-qui-aht councillor who spoke to Black Press Media on behalf of Moore’s family.
He said the family still hasn’t seen the full independent report done by Quebec’s police watchdog into the fatal shooting of the 26-year-old mother of a young daughter.
“Today being the one-year anniversary, certainly there is a lot of pain in knowing that we have not heard anything, no justice from police,” Martin said. “These reports, why do they take forever?”
READ: Frustrated family denied access to B.C. Indigenous woman’s police shooting report
The Bureau des Enquetes Independantes (BEI) report was sent to New Brunswick’s public prosecution service in December. The prosecutor will determine whether charges will be laid.
A brief summary of the BEI report says around 2:06 a.m. on June 4, 2020, a person called the Edmundston Police Force to check on Moore’s well-being. At about 2: 32 a.m., an officer arrived at her home and knocked on her living room window several times.
The report goes on to say Moore opened the door to her house, “armed with a knife and walked towards the police officer.” The officer stepped back on the balcony and asked Moore to let go of the knife several times, without success. The statement says the officer then fired his gun at Moore. The BEI statement said the officer immediately administered first aid. Paramedics called to the scene noted Moore’s death at 2:45 a.m.
Martin would like to see the officer who shot Moore be fired and charged.
“He murdered her, I believe he murdered her,” he said.
Black Press Media has asked Edmundston Police if the officer who shot Moore is still a member of the force, but had not received an answer by the time of writing.
Moore was the granddaughter of Martin’s sister. He and his two sisters visited her apartment in the weeks after she died. Martin noted discrepancies in the number of shots reported to ave been fired, and about stains he claims are from blood, but police said were from wine.
Martin stopped short of making a blanket statement about police officers, but said there needs to be reform in Canadian law enforcement.
“Police investigating themselves, it will never give a true picture,” he said.
He’s saddened for Moore’s daughter.
“Little Gracie, she’s six years old and now she’s left without her mother.”
READ: Tsawout First Nation takes to Pat Bay Highway overpass to depict loss of 215 children
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Members of Chantel Moore’s family gather on the steps of the B.C. legislature on June 4. The day marked the one-year anniversary of the 26-year-old mother being fatally shot by a police officer in New Brunswick, during what began as a wellness check. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)
