This June, we have lost two lives of Indigenous folks living in New Brunswick. On June Fourth, Chantel Moore was murdered during a wellness check by an (unnamed) police officer who chose to shoot her in the chest. On June 12th, Rodney Levi was murdered by an (unnamed) police officer after attending dinner with his Reverend. In Chantel’s case there were no non-lethal strategies applied to the situation and in Rodney’s he was tazzed before being shot.

The information released about these folks' deaths have been limited and private. The names of the officers involved have not been released. In a time where racial equality and justice is on the forefront of everyone’s minds, we assert that these are not isolated incidents, and in fact are decisions made due to racism on the parts of the responding officers.

Information surrounding who, what, and when has been sparse surrounding the intricacies of how these two lives who have been lost. In this petition, we would like to put pressure on both the RCMP, Edmundston Police, and Blaine Higgs to make all information surrounding these murders public, including the names of the police officers. Blaine Higgs has stated that we do not need another inquiry to bring justice but has not taken any steps to address this situation. We are calling for action on the part of New Brunswick government immediately.

We need the responding officers - both RCMP and Edmundston police immediately put on unpaid leave while investigations surrounding their murder take place. We call for both officers to be arrested for the murders they have committed. Reconciliation without justice isn’t reconciliation at all. We cannot let the unnamed responding officers get away with their behaviour.

Chantel and Rodney are not the first Indigenous folks to be murdered by police officers or RCMP in Canada or in New Brunswick. In fact, our justice system has been built to allow people to perpetrate violence against indigenous nations and peoples without any repercussions. We cannot allow for anymore lives to be lost. We need to take action to fight racism. Indigenous Lives Matter. We need to stand up and make sure that action is taken both locally, provincially, and federally to stop systemic violence and racism in all its forms.

Once we have collected enough signatures, we will send this petition and the names directly to all listed parties and give them two weeks to release the names and information surrounding the deaths. If action is not taken, we will go directly to those responsible for change and hold protests and marches to ensure justice is brought forward. We cannot have justice for all without accountability.

Disclaimer: This petition was created by a new activist group operating out of New Brunswick called RESIST NB. RESIST NB is a group of folks who are concerned about systemic violence and the recent murders in New Brunswick. To find out more or to follow us for future events, check out our facebook page: www.facebook.com/resistnb/

We stand with the Clan Mothers, who are calling for an Indigenous Led Independent Investigation surrounding the two deaths. Their petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/justin-trudeau-clan-mothers-request-independent-investigation-into-the-deaths-of-chantal-and-rodney

We stand with Edmundston Citizens pressuring their police officers to wear Body Cameras: https://www.change.org/p/edmundston-citizens-get-edmundston-cops-to-wear-body-cams?signed=true

We stand with people in our community who want justice: https://www.change.org/p/edmunston-crown-prosecuter-justice-for-the-shooting-death-of-chantel-moore-by-edmunston-police
https://www.change.org/p/royal-canadian-mounted-police-justice-for-rodney-levi?signed=true