First Nations chiefs voted a day earlier in support of an inquiry into systemic racism and police deaths in Canada.
Canada’s National Observer: OTTAWA—Mothers of Indigenous people who died in encounters with police said a national inquiry will only be useful if it leads to accountability.
At a press conference Wednesday during the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly, National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, alongside regional chiefs Ghislain Picard and Terry Teegee, called for justice in policing of Indigenous people.
First Nations chiefs voted in support of a national inquiry into systemic racism and police deaths on Tuesday. On Wednesday chiefs joined the mothers’ call for an inquiry that leads to results.
“I think it’s really important that this is highlighted on the highest level, that there needs to be systemic change in policing,” said Teegee, British Columbia Regional Chief.
Also attending the press conference were Edith Wells and Martha Martin, mothers who lost their children to police violence.
Martin lost both her children, Chantel Moore and Mike Martin, within five months of each other in 2020. Chantel Moore was shot during a wellness check with police, and Mike died while in police custody, in what was declared a suicide by the police force.
Martin said she wants to see action, not more recommendations from inquests and reports.
“I’m just so tired of coming and adding names every time we do these events,” she said. “So today, we’re here to say it’s time for change.”
Indigenous people are disproportionately represented in Canada’s justice system, including higher numbers in prisons and among deaths from police use of force.
A previous national inquiry into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit people crisis published its report in 2019 with 231 calls for justice. A report by CBC on the progress of these calls found only two were completed as of June 2023.
Wells said she’ll never forget the call she received letting her know her son, Jon, would not be coming home.
Jon, a 42-year-old man from the Kainai Blood Tribe in Alberta, was killed by Calgary police on Sept. 17 after multiple uses of force. Wells said she was “happy and grateful” to be in Ottawa to speak on behalf of her son, whose death is still being investigated by Alberta’s independent oversight agency.
“It is difficult. It’s only been two months since the passing of my son and justice needs to be done,” Wells said.
“I’m shattered, and there’s a big void in our community.”
Tuesday’s emergency vote for an inquiry was triggered by the deaths of nine Indigenous people across Canada, including Jon Wells, after interactions with police in less than a month earlier this fall.
Families of victims, including Martin had previously called for a national inquiry at Parliament Hill in October. At the AFN’s gathering in Calgary in October, chiefs also proposed a resolution calling for an inquiry, which was passed with consensus.
National chief Woodhouse Nepinak said Teegee and Picard, who is regional chief of Quebec and Labrador, will be meeting federal Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc about a national inquiry in the month ahead.
“We had commitments in July and we want to hold him to that,” she said.
“We need (the government’s) support and the political willingness in this country to get this important work done.”
Gabriel Brunet, a spokesperson for LeBlanc, told the Star there is no meeting currently planned with AFN.
In a previous statement, Brunet said LeBlanc previously met the national chief to discuss how “to ensure policing in Canada is responsive and respectful.”
But the federal government would not comment on the ongoing independent investigations into the recent police deaths of Indigenous people.
Both Martin and Wells said they want to see mothers and families of victims of police violence brought together and included in a national inquiry.
“We’re all going through the same grief and we’re all fighting for the same thing,” Martin said.
“I think once you hear a story, it hits more home.”
By Joy SpearChief-MorrisOttawa Bureau
Joy SpearChief-Morris is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics and Indigenous issues for the Star. Reach her via email: jspearchiefmorris@thestar.ca