The family and friends of an Indigenous man killed by police three years ago held a memorial in Vancouver on Monday, calling for a provincial and federal inquiry into Indigenous deaths by police in B.C. and Canada.
“I have families who are standing beside me. Women who are mourning. Women who are still grieving, and I’m still grieving, but I’m going to fight this. I’m going to fight for as long as I can,” said Laura Holland, Jared Lowndes’ mother.
Lowndes was shot by officers in a Tim Hortons parking lot in Campbell River on July 8, 2021. Police had said an officer “attempted to stop a vehicle in relation to an outstanding warrant,” and claim Lowndes didn’t stop.
The 38-year-old’s vehicle was eventually “boxed in” by a police cruiser, after which point the RCMP said a “confrontation occurred between the suspect and the police officer, who had a Police Service Dog.”
“During the interaction, the Police Service Dog was stabbed and killed, and the suspect was shot and was pronounced deceased on scene,” the Campbell River RCMP said at the time.
After a lengthy investigation, the Crown declined to pursue charges against the officers involved, saying there wasn’t evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that police had committed an offence during the incident.
His mother says that’s not good enough.
The BC Civil Liberties Association is joining Lowndes’ family and friends in calling for inquiries into the deaths of Indigenous people by police.
“This is the only way that we can get at the core and the root, and truly investigate what is going on and bring it to the forefront for people to understand the scope, and nature, and depth of the egregious behaviour happening from our police services,” explained Latoya Farrell, policy counsel with the BC Civil Liberties Association.
The families of other Indigenous people killed by police stood alongside Lowndes’ mother on Monday, echoing her call.
Martha Martin, whose daughter Chantel Moore was shot to death by police during a wellness check, and whose son Mike Martin died in a correctional facility just months later, travelled from New Brunswick to B.C. to add her voice.
A man holds a picture of Chantel Moore during a healing gathering at the B.C. Legislature in Victoria on Thursday, June 18, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
“You go through all those emotions of grieving two — not one but two — children, and no answers. You go from devastation to devastation and then you go to anger. And I’m now in that angry phase because I still have no answers,” said Martin.
The families are asking the public to voice their support for a formal inquiry by reaching out to their provincial and federal politicians.