Cousins remember Indigenous woman struck by vehicle while cycling

Since their cousin was taken from them last week, all David Charette and Amanda Fox have had to hold on to are their cherished memories of the days when they were "the three amigos."

Chanel Charette, 33, died in hospital Sept. 26, two days after being struck by a vehicle while cycling in Vanier. 

"I just saw her on her last breaths, just attached to that machine.… I was just bawling my eyes out," said David Charette, also 33. "Just the way she looked ... it wasn't her, and so I knew that she wasn't going to be around anymore."

He and Fox said their cousin was struck near the corner of Lajoie Street and Montreal Road at 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 24. Police have since charged Tony Bera, 25, with dangerous driving causing death.

Charette was a member of Wikwemikong First Nation, an Anishinaabe community on Manitoulin Island. Her family surrounded her hospital bed, weeping, singing medicine songs and sharing their last messages before her final moments.

"Before she was taken off life support, I was just holding her hair for the last time and I said, 'Now you're our angel watching over us,'" David Charette said.

Remembering 'Channy'

Now her family is mourning her loss, remembering "Channy" for her big smile, friendliness and perseverance. 

"She would come over all the time when we were younger. [When] we would go to her place, I remember like throwing rocks at her window trying to get her attention," recalled Fox, 35. 

"We had a really good childhood together." 

Fox and David Charette, who are siblings, grew up with their cousin in Vanier where they hung out, rode bikes and frequented Aladdin Pizza & Subs.

David Charette said when he last saw his cousin about two weeks ago, she was on her way to that same restaurant for a bite to eat. He and Fox believe that's also where she was trying to go the night she was struck.

"Aladdin's pizza was [her] safe place — our safe place, too," Fox said. "She was trying to get to her safe place, and unfortunately she didn't get there on time."

Fox said Charette was widely known in the neighbourhood.

"She was super friendly ... so I'm pretty sure like almost everybody in Vanier must know Chanel," she said with a laugh. 

"She just ... continued to smile every time we saw her," David Charette recalled. "We were always laughing together."

'I'm just so used to not getting justice'

The homicide unit of the Ottawa Police Service is investigating Charette's death.

Fox said she was overcome with feelings of shock, sadness and disappointment once she learned her cousin was gone.

"It's a feeling like I'm getting used to, and it shouldn't be that," she said. "I'm just so used to not getting justice ... as an Indigenous woman. So I'm not really hopeful."

"My cousin was basically like my sister, and I hope there will be justice for us," David Charette added. "I just want her to move on to the spirit world the best way she can."

Charette and Fox plan on honouring their cousin by preparing a feast plate, when a portion is set aside for the person who's absent before anyone else gets their food.

"That plate is made to honour our ancestors, so for those that we have lost and those who are still with us, but like in spirit," Fox said.

Charette will also be honoured Friday on Parliament Hill along with other Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people who have gone missing or been murdered when Sisters In Spirit hold their 18th annual vigil. A rose ceremony is planned in Charette's memory.

Bera appeared in court Sunday and is set to appear again Oct. 22.