Musicians paying tribute to Chantel Moore at Monday night's vigil. (Photo credit: Gage Kelly)
A vigil in honour of those killed by police was held in King’s Square on Monday night.
The event honoured George Floyd, Regis Korchinski-Pacquet and Chantel Moore, whose deaths have prompted global demonstrations and protests.
The 26-year-old Moore was killed by police responding to a wellness check at her Edmundston apartment last Thursday.
The vigil in King’s Square featured speeches from Judy Murphy with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saint John, and Kathy Young of Polish Her Crown Self-Acceptance studio. Community speakers shared stories, and then the crowd shared five minutes of silence.
Cassandra McLaughlin organized the event in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women group.
She says with so much tragedy being experienced lately, it’s important for people to come together to process their collective grief.
“We are going to be seeing more of these stories, and the unheard voices that can’t speak at that moment can now speak up,” McLaughlin said.
The uptick in demonstrations world-wide as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement has led to a reckoning on the volume of racism faced by people of colour in Canada and abroad.
As an indigenous woman, McLaughlin says it’s difficult seeing videos depicting police violence against the indigenous community.
“Recently I saw video of a man being rundown by a car door, and I was just thinking ‘that could be one of my family members,'” she said.
With the increased visibility of anti-racist movements, McLaughlin says Canadians now need to do the work to unlearn racist behaviours.
“The only way that we can heal after we bring all these stories to light, is to reflect on our past, learn from it, teach our proper past, and respect everybody,” she said.
