Yahoo Movies Statue of Chantel John a memorial to all missing and murdered Indigenous women, says artist
With the first-degree murder trial for the death of Chantel John still delayed after more than three years, her hometown of Conne River in southern Newfoundland continues to celebrate her memory.
A wooden statue was placed in its new home at the Chantel John Memorial Park in Conne River last week, depicting a woman in a bright red buckskin dress staring downward, in honour of murdered and missing Indigenous women.
Artist Faron Joe, a step-cousin of John's, told CBC News the idea was just something he has wanted to do since the tragic event.
"I was just thinking, 'This girl would never hurt a fly and she never had any ill intentions toward anybody,'" he said. Joe said told John's father that he wanted to do a carving in her memory and got the go-ahead.
"I put the wood up and started my chainsaw and started to carve her out of the wood, started to bring her spirit back."
Joe said the carving took nearly three years.
"I just wanted to give back," he said. "I took pride in working on her every time I did. I tried to make a symbol for her and for all that have been put through this. You forget it's a piece of wood. It's more than that."
'New beginnings'
Joe said he still thinks back to the night of John's death, when her boyfriend ran to Joe's house across the street looking for help.
"It was very tragic for our community, for a young lady to be taken that way," he said. "The way she was killed is so crazy and unreal. Now we're three years in court and it seems like it's just dragging out. There's no answers."
The first-degree murder trial of Kirk Keeping was delayed last year when he fired his legal aid lawyers the day before jury selection was to get underway in May 2021.
The Chantel John Memorial Park opened in 2020, about a year after John's death, as a place for family, friends and community members to sit and remember John and all missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls throughout the country.
At the end of the opening ceremony at the time, family and friends gathered around a photograph of John and sang the Strong Women Song and recited prayers.
The park was funded by the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Commemoration Fund.
Joe said he had one request when the statue was placed — that it faced east.
"East is where the sun rises and in our culture when the sun rises it means new beginnings," he said.
"That light will shine on her every morning, whether she's with us or not."
