Indigenous voices must be heard now! The case of Chantel Moore

BY OMNIYA ALI

June 4th marked yet another tragedy for the Indigenous community in Canada, but distressingly enough, they knew it wouldn’t be the last. Chantel Moore, a 26-year-old woman was shot and killed by the police during a wellness check in New Brunswick. Disregarding the lingering feeling of defeat, the Indigenous community came together and raised their voices in order to enforce change. The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has taken many steps in the direction of change in order to alleviate the unnecessary deaths and assaults of Indigenous women, men and gender-diverse people at the hands of Canadian police. Following Chantel Moore’s tragic passing, Rodney Levi was also killed and Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam was assaulted by RCMP officers in Alberta, many other events of a similar nature have occurred this month which brought attention to the issue nationally.

Lorraine Whitman, President of NWAC, is demanding immediate reforms that have been called upon previously within the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Gender Diverse People. A meeting has been arranged between Ms. Whitman and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki. In the meantime Ms. Whitman wrote a letter to Commissioner Lucki detailing the three reforms necessary to reduce the violence:

• All frontline police officers be equipped with body cameras;
• “Shoot-to-kill” orders be revised to make non-violent apprehension the imperative when suspects are not brandishing firearms, and to better train officers on how to de-escalate potentially dangerous situations; and
• turn over some of the duties currently performed by police when called to deal with an Indigenous person who is suffering from a mental health issue to social workers, health professionals or elders (many others have called for this reform in recent days as well).

During an interview with Ms. Whitman on June 26th she emphasized, “There needs to be change and it needs to happen today.” Ms. Whitman believes that the most crucial step the government should take to support the Indigenous community is to listen. Listen to their voices and their requests, and allow them to work in partnership with the RCMP and other organizations. All through Canadian history the voice of the Indigenous individual has been silenced or ignored, and Ms. Whitman and many other leaders of her community are here to tell us “The lives of: Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse are important and now this young lady Chantel, her daughter is without a mother, her mother is without a daughter, her brothers are without a sister; we need to react.” With a heavy heart Ms. Whitman stressed that the events of June 4th not only affected Chantel Moore’s family but all Indigenous families, and without a materialized action plan from the government the community will continue to be let down.

Knowing as much, NWAC moved forward with their own action plan to assert the urgency of the matters. In Ms. Whitman’s words “It’s still genocide because there are people that are dying.”

Ms. Whitman did not fall short of providing a possible solution and accessible actions for all Canadians. In terms of the government and the RCMP the one thing they need to do in order to mitigate the several injustices that occur towards the Indigenous community according to Ms. Whitman is, “Listen to us. We know what works. It worked before and it can work again but we need to be able to work as partnerships because we all are treating people and we need to work together to make a better Canada and all we’re saying is we’re here to offer our services for being at the tables, inclusive.”

As for Canadians that would like to take a stand and support the Indigenous community, Ms. Whitman would like us to know that it all begins with education and awareness of the Indigenous point of view. In order to stand with them we must first experience standing in their shoes.

Although the document on the Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is 1,200 pages, it portrays the Indigenous perspective and conveys their voices. In order to prosper we must first stand united and support this movement. The unnecessary killing of Indigenous women, men, and gender diverse must stop now.