On May 8th, a Tla-o-qui-aht mother of two was shot by the RCMP after they responded to a call for help. The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and the First Nations Leadership Council are calling for an immediate, transparent and transformative response which includes the Tla-o-qui-aht community at every step of the way… this is the third recent shooting by the RCMP of one of our people – our population is approximately 1,150 people. The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation Hereditary Chiefs and Elected Council issued a statement demanding changes to the justice system following the RCMP shooting of 26 year old TFN member and mother Chantel Moore on June 4, 2020; they are still waiting for the changes they asked for.

There have been numerous inquiries, studies, reports, and a First Nations Justice Strategy in BC created to address the need for justice reform. Despite this, our citizens continue to be the victims of unnecessary police violence leading to serious injury or death as a result of police shootings.

This shooting comes just three months after the fatal police shooting of Julian Jones, another Tla-o-qui-aht member, reaffirming the numerous calls by the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation and Indigenous leaders across the country for substantial police reform to address the systemic racism and violence that is evidenced every time we have another Indigenous person shot by the police. These calls have included the reallocation of police funding to support de-escalation and trauma informed services, the appointment of an Indigenous person to the IIO processes, and the implementation of First Nations-led police services and forces.