Marchers put spotlight on unsolved death of Indigenous woman

A large crowd of marchers blocked a causeway connecting Cape Breton Island to mainland Nova Scotia Wednesday, part of an effort to raise awareness about the unsolved death of a local Indigenous woman.

Cassidy Bernard, a 22-yearold mother of infant twins, was found dead at her home on the We’koqma’q First Nation last month.

Police are calling the woman’s death “suspicious,” and say her two babies — in the home at the time of the incident — were not harmed.

Chief Rod Googoo said the 45-minute march across the blustery Canso Causeway was aimed at shining a spotlight on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous woman across Canada and hopefully shed light on what happened to Bernard.

“She was a sweet innocent child herself,” he said in an interview. “She was only 22 years old, she had just had twins that were six months old.”

Her death has left the community in a state of shock and grief, he said, adding that the family needs answers.

“We have to keep the spotlight bright on this issue,” Googoo said. “We need to keep the pressure on and make people aware that our women and our children are very valuable to us. We have the same feelings as any other person in Canada. We do love our women very dearly, we cherish them, we love our children and we hurt, we grieve and we feel pain.”