The family of a 26-year-old Port Alberni mother shot and killed by police in New Brunswick is holding a rally today at 10 a.m. at the sa国际传媒 legislature to call for justice.
Chantel Moore was shot and killed on June 4 by an Edmundston, N.B., police officer doing a wellness check. Moore鈥檚 family is upset that the officer is back on duty, and is still looking for answers about her death.
Officers were performing the wellness check after Moore鈥檚 boyfriend, who lives in Toronto, called police to say he was worried about her. The Edmundston Police Department said when the first officer arrived at the apartment, Moore was holding a knife and threatened the officer.
Moore鈥檚 family disputes that account, saying Moore was petite and harmless. They say her death is part of a pattern of systemic racism against Indigenous people, who are disproportionately hurt or killed by police.
According to a Facebook event called Justice for Chantel Moore, people are asked to wear yellow to the rally, a nod to Moore鈥檚 favourite saying, 鈥渟tay golden.鈥� People have been told to wear masks, bring hand sanitizer and keep distant from others, particularly elders who might be at the event.
Moore leaves behind a six-year-old daughter named Gracie and a large extended family on the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation.
Before her death, Moore had just moved into her own apartment, about six months after she moved from Port Alberni to the New Brunswick city to be close to her mother and daughter.
In June, hundreds of people gathered at the legislature for a healing ceremony, where Moore鈥檚 mother, Martha Martin, recounted how police knocked on her door in the early hours of June 4 with the news that her daughter had been killed. Just hours before, police had asked Martin for her daughter鈥檚 address.
Moore鈥檚 death will be the subject of a coroner鈥檚 inquest in New Brunswick. The shooting is also being investigated by Quebec鈥檚 independent police oversight body.