WE’KOQMA’Q:As family members and supporters continue to raise awareness of the sudden death of a young First Nations woman, the band council decided to help out as well.
The We’koqma’q Chief and Council announced a reward of $100,000 for those whose information leads to an arrest in the case.
“We know that there are individuals amongst us that have valuable information that can help the RCMP with their investigation,” according to a statement from the band council.
As well, all municipal, provincial and federal elected officials in the area have been invited to walk across the Canso Causeway tomorrow (November 21) at noon to shed light on missing and murdered aboriginal women.
A cousin of the 22-year-old female who was found dead in her We’koqma’q First Nation home says the morning of October 24 will be forever etched into her memory and will permanently haunt her family.
The name of the deceased has not been officially released, but family members confirmed the woman’s identity as Cassidy Jean Bernard, and that her six-month-old twins were present in the home when the body was discovered and are now being cared for by family members.
Annie Bernard-Daisley, a three-term band councillor with We’koqma’q First Nation, said people have to start being more courageous and speak out on this issue.
“We’re trying to be pro-active here, we’re going to stand up and say ‘No more, our women are not throw-away people,’” Bernard-Daisley told The Reporter Friday afternoon. “It’s almost hard to put in words the loss of Cassidy, and how she died, it’s still so surreal a month later.”
Bernard-Daisley remembered her cousin as a firecracker, who was small in size but larger than life, who made an immediate and unforgettable impact on those she met. She also recalled how Bernard was proud of her Mi’kmaq culture, as a speaker and singer of the language.
This week marks four weeks since Bernard’s life was taken away, and her twin six-month old daughters were left without a mother.
RCMP Public Information Officer Cpl. Jennifer Clarke told The Reporter in an e-mailed statement there are currently no updates on the case, and that it’s a complicated, technical investigation from the RCMP perspective.
“It takes time to get all of the necessary details and ensure we do a thorough job of collecting and analyzing the evidence,” Cpl. Clarke advised. “We continue to work with the medical examiner’s office as they complete their part of this investigation, which could take up to six weeks, and cannot provide information on the identity of the deceased or provide an update until that has been completed.”
Federal government figures list aboriginal women as making up 16 per cent of all missing and murdered women across Canada, even though they only make up four per cent of the total Canadian female population.
“We as Indigenous women are seven times more likely to go missing and be killed than your average non-native woman,” Bernard-Daisley said. “As a mother of daughters this hurts my soul, as a cousin to Cassidy, these feelings are raw.”
Hot on the heels of the #justiceforcassidy campaign that has hit social media this month, Bernard-Daisley also launched the #floodfacebookforcassidy initiative, which invites women to post pictures of themselves in red dresses on Facebook to maintain awareness of her cousin’s death and its aftermath.
“I feel such a strong passion – it’s like lighting a fire in my soul,” Bernard-Daisley said. “What we want to do is shed more light on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across Canada. This has to stop – it’s an epidemic that’s gone on far too long.”
The initiative will see red dresses – a nationally-recognized symbol for the death and disappearance of indigenous women – hanging in windows and showing up at prominent public landmarks, across Cape Breton including the Canso Causeway.
“Every red dress symbolizes that there needs to be change, there needs to be courage, there needs to be bravery,” Bernard-Daisley said. “The government has to step up and do something now; not after the inquiry and the final reports are done and they receive their list of recommendations.”
Bernard’s death comes as the National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls prepares to hold its final hearings, with the three-year-old inquiry’s official report due this coming April.
“My hope is that there us justice for Cassidy, my hope is that we, as aboriginal women, will not have to live in fear of being an ignored statistic,” Bernard-Daisley said. “My hope is that an arrest is made and the person responsible is brought to justice.”