John Fox Goes to Ottawa

By Barb Nahwegahbow

TORONTO—John Fox is hopeful that the 2013 Toronto death of his daughter will be one of the cases examined by the newly launched MMIWG inquiry. Cheyenne Fox, a young mother died at the age of 22 after a fall from a 24th floor condo.

A citizen of Wikwemikong First Nation, Fox said the fact that the cause of death in his daughter’s case went from ‘suicide’ to ‘undetermined’ works to his advantage.  The coroner, after reviewing reports of the investigation conducted by Toronto Police, initially determined her death to be a suicide. The family was not satisfied with this. With the help of Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto, Fox asked for an inquest. While their request was refused, the coroner changed cause of death to undetermined.

Long known for his stance against a government-controlled inquiry, Fox has changed his position.

“I will support the inquiry if that’s what the families want,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing, the families. That’s more important to me than anything else. Hearing their stories in Ottawa was pretty important to me. That’s the commonality we have. People I didn’t know before, they got to know me and I got to know them. The families want it,” stated Fox.

Select families of MMIWG were invited to Ottawa for the August 3 announcement, but Fox wasn’t one of them.

“I don’t know how they were picked or who picked them,” he said, “maybe INAC.” He wanted to be there and he arrived in time for the dinner for families with Ministers the evening before the announcement. “They didn’t have my name on the list and they told me I wasn’t entitled to a room,” he said. “I asked if I could bring in my sacred staff.”  He was told the request would have to go to Minister Carolyn Bennett but later, it was the Algonquin Nation Elders who approved his request. The Ontario Native Women’s Association covered Fox’s expenses.

Minister Bennett shared the inquiry’s Terms of Reference with the families that evening and she might have introduced the Commissioners, Fox said. “I was there when they made the announcement at the Museum the next day,” he said.

“Some people are lukewarm to the MMIWG Inquiry,” he said, “being that it’s only two years. But they said some of the concerns are about the police. There’s a lot of issues about the police right now and the poor quality of the investigations they do on our women. I think the good thing about the inquiry is it’s not going to carry on for ten years. There’s a time limit.”

Fox urges people to “participate in the inquiry instead of hemming and hawing. Make an effort to be there. There’s going to have to be something that comes out of this. It’s not just the country that’s watching. The international community is watching too.”