That so many of their own made it out to Africville -- poets, musicians, clergy, family, elders and strangers -- to join in celebrating the life of Regis Korchinski-Paquet meant everything to her family.
“It’s overwhelming to see the support that we’re getting from families and strangers, it’s a lot," said Regis’s sister Shyna Beals on Saturday.
The Dartmouth resident, her mom Claudette Beals Clayton and sister Renee Beals Korchinski had just finished performing God Favours Me, a moving tribute to their belated sister and daughter whose tragic death on May 27 remains a painful mystery for the family.
What’s known is that six police officers were in Regis’s Toronto apartment before she fell 24 storeys to her death. Not long before that, the 29-year-old woman had been in a dispute with her brother, and her mother called the police hoping that the pair would be removed from the apartment safely. In the end, she lost her daughter.
Ontario’s police watchdog, Special Investigations Unit, released the finding of its investigation Wednesday, clearing the officers of criminal wrongdoing in her death. Already trying to cope with her loss, the family had hoped that the officers would be held to account for the young woman’s death.
“We’re devastated,” said Beals. “It’s going to take a long time for our lives to get back together. A call for help resulted in the death of my sister and our whole family is torn apart because of it. She was the heart of our family.”
Marked by song and scripture, Saturday’s event was a celebration of a vibrant young woman who touched the lives of many but also a rallying point for the Black Lives Matter movement. Regis’s parents and sister Renee came from Toronto to be there. Her mother Claudia was raised in East Preston and several of her family were in attendance Saturday.
“We’re representing Regis, we’re celebrating her life, said Regis’s sister Renee.
“My sister’s death and Black Lives Matter are connected as one and this is about keeping the momentum of the moment going,” she said.
“What happened to Regis could happen and will happen to someone else in the Black community. We continued to be abused and continue to live in fear of the police. But we will continue to fight this oppression.
Legendary North Preston boxer Kirk Johnson arrived at Saturday’s celebration with his family. In 2003, a human rights inquiry found that Johnson was discriminated against based on race when he was stopped by police in Dartmouth five years earlier. Police were ordered to pay Johnson $10,000.
Johnson, who now splits his time between Texas and Dartmouth, wanted to pay his respects to the late 29-year-old woman but also to contribute in the cause for equality.
“It’s important for me to get out and support my community,” said Johnson. “But this brings me back to my own experiences and I don’t like it. This is an important moment in our history and I wanted my kids here. We can’t keep talking about racial injustice. Change needs to come.”
Tim Clayton, Korchinski-Paquet's uncle, was one of many who addressed the group paying tribute to his niece. He recalled Regis’s love of laughter, the many poems and letters she wrote him over the years, and her dreams of becoming a professional gymnast. He encouraged everyone to continue in the fight for racial equality.
“Bless you for coming out and keep Regis n your memories,” said Clayton.
Lynn Jones, a lifelong black educator in Nova Scotia, couldn’t make it to the event but prepared a statement read aloud to the crowd. Paying tribute to Regis, Lynn also made a powerful plea to keep the struggle for equality alive.
“It is right for us to come together to mourn the loss of our sister Regis Korchinski-Paquet … at the hands of a state system that refuses to admit that it continues to fail to protect the most vulnerable in our society, namely African people, especially those who require the most protection, she wrote.
Jones harkened back to the struggle of black civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King in urging gatherers to not turn “their backs on our suffering sisters and brothers, to continue to shout, dance and protest about the things that matter.”
“Because we honestly and sincerely believe that all Black lives matter,” she wrote. “I remain in the struggle.”
