Vigil for another one of more than 600
By Barb Nahwegahbow
TORONTO – John Fox says his 20-year-old daughter Cheyenne was a “very kind, caring, loving person.”
And he can’t understand why police haven’t conducted a serious investigation into her death.
“It was very shocking for us,” said Fox, a citizen of Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve, who was speaking at a candlelight vigil for Cheyenne held Oct. 31st in front of Toronto Police Headquarters on College Street. About 30 people participated.
Fox recalled the police visit to inform him that his daughter committed suicide. Cheyenne fell to her death from a 24-storey condo in Toronto’s Don Mills in April of this year.
“They didn’t even talk to the witnesses that were there on that day,” he said. “They didn’t care about my daughter. They still don’t care about my daughter.”
Breaking down as he addressed the crowd, Fox said he firmly believes his daughter did not kill herself.
“I didn’t raise my kids to die like that. I don’t want anybody to go through that like I did. That’s why I’m doing this vigil, so people can understand what we try to do. We love our kids. It’s still very hard for us but we honour that child. We honour that child no matter what because she loved her people.”
Together with one of his sons, Fox transported his daughter’s body to Manitoulin Island because it was too costly to hire a funeral home in Toronto. It took a lot of strength, he said, but he wanted Cheyenne to have a traditional burial. His daughter was much loved, he said.
“Everybody came in from all over, Manitoba, Ontario, everywhere because of how important Cheyenne was in our lives.”
Fox is not giving up on his quest to find out the truth about his daughter’s death. He wants the police to do a thorough investigation. He was scheduled to meet Nov. 20 with Toronto police, accompanied by a lawyer and some supporters.
He admits there were times he felt like giving up on life. “But I didn’t,” he says, “because the Creator doesn’t want us to do that. We have to live the life no matter how hard it gets.”
In an interview following the vigil, Fox said his daughter did not seem suicidal in the three weeks she stayed with him just before her death. She loved her young son, Xavier and she was set to go to college, he said. She planned to become a beautician and she was excited about it. But unknown to Fox, his daughter had been lured into the sex trade by a friend and he believes this is what led to her death. “I miss my daughter so much,” he said.
Two other Aboriginal women have died under mysterious circumstances in Toronto this year. In May, 26-year old Terra Gardner from Nigigoonsiminikaang First Nation was killed by a passing train near Yonge Street and Summerhill Avenue. She had complained of receiving death threats just prior to her death. In July, 25-year old Bella Laboucan-McLean from Sturgeon Lake Cree First Nation in Alberta died after falling off a 31st floor balcony of a condo in downtown Toronto. A recent graduate of the fashion design program at Humber College, she had plans to move to England to continue her studies. Her family doesn’t believe it was suicide and the police are treating her death as suspicious.
“There’s a war on against us,” Fox told the gathering, “…and there has been a war for a long time and it’s just getting worse and worse all the time.”
Other speakers at the vigil echoed Fox’s words when they spoke about Cheyenne and the more than 600 murdered or missing Aboriginal women reported in Canada in the past decade.