The decision to move the murder and child abandonment trial of Austin Isadore to the new court in the Wagmatcook First Nation should be reviewed.
After 405 days of remaining tight-lipped, late last year, the RCMP finally provided their first update on the suspicious death of Cassidy Bernard.
The father of Cassidy’s twin daughters, 20-year-old Dwight Austin Isadore of Wagmatcook, was arrested in Baddeck early last December by Nova Scotia RCMP and charged with second-degree murder and two counts of abandonment of a child.
Isadore was previously questioned by the RCMP but was later released without charges, and last year, band officials in We’koqma’q First Nation issued a notice banning him from the community.
The RCMP said they hoped the arrest and charges were a step forward in the healing process for the family and the entire community.
The 22-year-old Bernard was found deceased in her We’koqma’q home by her mother on October 24, 2018. The infant girls, who were six-months old at the time, were found inside the home. Besides being dehydrated, they were not harmed.
Echoing the worries of many, Janey Michael, who sits on the executive of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association, welcomed news of the arrest but expressed concern the charges might be downgraded to manslaughter.
When it was later decided that some hearings in the case will be moved to Wagmatcook – the home community of Isadore – the reaction was predictable.
Annie Bernard-Daisley – Cassidy’s cousin and a three-term band councillor in We’koqma’q – said family members have safety concerns in regards to Wagmatcook being the venue. She asked why the judge cannot make the process “comfortable” for the family instead of the accused.
“We’ve already gone through hell for the last 13-months,” she told The Reporter in December.
Bernard-Daisley highlighted that Cassidy’s supporters all feel the same way in regards to switching the venue location to Wagmatcook and they don’t understand why Isadore can return home when Cassidy will never be able to again.
She requested that Port Hawkesbury, Sydney, or even Halifax would be preferable to the family, rather than Wagmatcook.
Judge Laurie Halfpenny-MacQuarrie suggested Wagmatcook, as a new facility, has the same safety measures and sheriffs in place as the Port Hawkesbury Justice Centre, so unless she was convinced beyond a doubt of any safety concerns, hearings would take place in Wagmatcook.
Then on January 15, Isadore appeared via teleconference from the Northeast Nova Correctional Facility to a packed Port Hawkesbury courtroom.
His lawyers requested they needed more time to receive and review the evidence from the Crown.
Isadore is scheduled for an election-and-plea hearing on February 21 in Wagmatcook.
Despite the fact that the court in Wagmatcook is new, impressive and capable of handling such a trial, the fact the accused is from this community is reason enough to move to another venue.
The Port Hawkesbury Justice Centre provides all the security of any nearby facility, and is a neutral point for all involved.
Holding this highly anticipated and visible murder trial in the home community of the accused takes away any neutrality, and goes so far as to afford Isadore more rights than the woman he is accused of killing and innocent babies he is accused of abandoning.
Whether Wagmatcook is in fact safer than Port Hawkesbury is also a concern, given the fact that Isadore’s family, friends and supporters are all in that community, and Bernard’s family and supporters are from a nearby community. By moving the venue, the potential for a home court advantage for the accused is diminished.
Now that awareness has been raised about the disturbing number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls whose cases were rarely investigated, and whose whereabouts remain unknown, this is a good time for the justice system to demonstrate that it is not tone deaf.
The courts need to show they have listened, and need to show Cassidy Bernard the respect she deserves.
That is the fair, reasonable and equal way forward in a trial that has the potential to be contentious, heated and emotional.
For more on this case go to: https://prwpuploads.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/judge-considers-moving-murder-trial-from-port-hawkesbury-to-wagmatcook/.