Kettle and Stony Point family continue to search for Justice for David through new t-shirt campaign
By Colin Graf
KETTLE AND STONY POINT FIRST NATION— The family of David Oliver hopes that putting the young man’s image on the backs of people around their community will prick the conscience of someone who knows something about his death last summer.
Members of the family are selling t-shirts with the words “Justice for David” to maintain the urgency of solving the 29-year-old’s murder at Stoney Point, the land that was formerly the Canadian army’s Camp Ipperwash. Oliver’s body was found on Aug. 2 in a field near Highway 21, and his death was found to result from a homicide, according to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), according to OPP Detective Inspector Brad Robson, speaking in a police video from November 2020. He said Oliver’s red Dodge Ram pickup was found in the bush nearby.
The t-shirt campaign resulted from David’s aunt Greta Shawnoo feeling this spring that “we have to get something else going” to help the police.
“I knew there was more [to do],” Shawnoo says.
She commissioned artist Allan Joseph of Aamjiwnaang First Nation to design the shirts, and so far has sold about 20 at the cost of $25 each. The money is going back into the cost of making the shirts and providing gas for her to deliver them to nearby communities including the City of Sarnia.
David’s parents are on board with the idea, and “people are saying it’s a neat idea,” says Shawnoo.
“We’re telling people to wear them [when they go] out; wear them to get the word out.”
She hopes that “with pictures of David going around on everyone’s back, it might start eating at someone” and lead to an arrest.
Police have released few details about the killing, but OPP Sgt. Ed Sanchuk said that the investigation is “ongoing and active.” Officers are continuing to interview people, and have received information from the public. However, “investigators are aware that other individuals in the community have information that could assist” and they are urged to contact the OPP, he said, at 1-888-310-1122 or anonymously, they can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222- 8477. The Kettle and Stony Point detachment of the Anishinabek Police Service (APS) is also taking calls at 519-786-5445.
A $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest was first offered by the OPP last Nov., and is still in place, Sanchuk said. Police support the family’s t-shirt campaign, he added.
“The investigators assigned to this investigation know that there are individuals in the community that (sic.) have information that could assist with this ongoing investigation,” Sanshuk reiterated in an e-mail response. “They are being asked to have the courage to come forward.”
On June 1, OPP and the APS set up several billboards around the Kettle and Stony Point community reminding the public they are looking for help with the Oliver case. The boards will be rotated to different locations around the First Nation this summer, Sanchuk added.
Oliver’s mother Carla Rogers posted to Facebook in early June repeating the request for help, describing the last year as “completely heartbreaking.”
“Finding the truth of who did this needs to be done,” she wrote. “Someone does know something and I am asking anyone who has not shared what they know to come forward. It has been 10 months now. Do not be afraid to share. So please, it is never too late to speak up.”
The Justice for David shirts can be ordered from Greta Shawnoo on Facebook.