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Hi, crime junkies. It's Britt, and it's just me for right now, but not for long.
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Ashley's out today, but she has left us in good hands. As you guys know, we've been shaking things up a little bit
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lately, and today is one of those days. But how we got here is something brand new to us. So, let me fill you in.
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A few months ago, our team was working on a case involving a girl who along with her siblings survived a home
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invasion in 1993 in which a man broke in and killed both of their parents. That girl was Fallon Finaci and she is now a
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dedicated advocate for missing and murdered indigenous people. And so, in honor of May being National Missing and
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Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Month, we thought this was an important story to share. But it's her story. So,
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who better to tell it than herself? Today, I've invited Fallon to the Crime Junkie Clubhouse so we can hear directly
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from her. Now, before we jump in, I will tell you right up here at the top that we will not be naming Fallon's parents
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killer throughout the episode. His name is Andre Ducharm, but as I'm sure you can understand, Fallon prefers not to
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use his name. She only refers to him as her mom stalker or the stalker. And out of respect, I'll be doing the same. But
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that's enough of me. This is the story of Fallon Finaci. Fallon, welcome to the Crime Junkie
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Clubhouse. We are so thankful you are here. You came all the way from Canada to be with us here in Indiana and that
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is just incredible. I am so grateful to be here and to be able to come here to tell my story and
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share it with all of you. Yeah. So, let's start with a little bit about you. Take us to your background,
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your childhood. Tell us about your culture. Yeah. So, the little rural community I
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grew up in was St. Estach, just outside of Winnipeg. And still have ties to it. I I go home. I call it my home still
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quite often, although I don't live there anymore. Uh I am indigenous. So, I'm Red
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River Matei and so was my father. um my father's side of the family and he grew up really proud to be indigenous and so
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he instilled that in me at a young age. Uh there wasn't really any kind of difference from my everyday life to
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culture, traditions or community. It was just all it was life. Yeah. I always explain to people is it
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happened around the kitchen table, you know, in those beautiful it sounds like a really beautiful way to grow up.
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Really really tight family. Really? But we're here today for a specific reason and I think now is like a really good
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time to kind of turn into that. Can you take me to everything that that kind of happened?
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Yeah, absolutely. So in November of 1992, this man who we knew, he was a community member.
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He started crossing boundaries. And boundaries in the sense of like just making you feel uncomfortable. And he
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called our family home. He had found out that my mother had went to a co-orker's
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birthday party. and he he had asked my mom where his birthday cake was. And my mom never made him a cake. So that is
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really what kind of made her feel uncomfortable to get off the phone right away.
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Uh and so she said to him, "I threw it in the garbage and I have to go. I have the kids bingo." And hung up. We had a
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community bingo. As I said, it was like a really tight-knit community. So, uh, he called back and he threatened my mom
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and he said that she wouldn't live to see her next birthday and that he wouldn't live to see his. This really
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kind of crossed the last boundary. So, she took it really seriously. They called the RCMP, the Royal Canadian
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Mounty Police, and they brought him before a judge that evening. Uh, and they failed though to tell the judge
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that my mother and father had told the RCMP that she was concerned that he had a 22 caliber rifle.
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So there was no seizure of weapons. There was no search of his home, anything like that. And he was released.
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And then in December, you know, my mom continued to hear from community members that he was continuing to want to take
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my mom, my mother, and my father's lives. And so from there, my mom wrote the RCMP a letter. And in that letter,
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she stated that again, she was concerned about this .22 caliber, but also a handgun.
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The letter was never filed, and so it wasn't brought before a judge or anything like that. The stalker had 13
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prior convictions. And the RCMP station fought bail for this man in 1990, saying
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he should not be released, that he was a danger to the community. And now we're in January of 1993 and my family's case
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landed on the desk of a uh family crown attorney which it's not like a family crown would be like family court here in
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the states. Yes. So like custody and stuff like that. That's not the situation at all.
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Not at all. No. This was criminal. He had threatened their lives along this case. uh we heard a lot of like errors,
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you know, human error, and so this was one of those human errors. But for some reason, this crown
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picked it up and then felt it was appropriate to have a mediation, which again, like in family court would
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make sense. Like you have mediations as like like a means to an end, but that's again not the case here.
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No. I mean, I wouldn't want to sit with someone. Absolutely not. That threatened my life. So it it just
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baffles my mind that he thought that was what should be done. Yeah. Especially like it comes across
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your desk, you open it to continue on with it versus like ooh passing it off to like who it actually belongs to where
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it can actually be handled properly with the court system that should be handling it
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feels like more than human error. Yeah, absolutely. And from there, there was a uh temp in this uh law clerk
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position, which again, human error. Fine. Um but she accidentally mailed my mother the
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stalker's information and he got my mother's. Oh yeah. So there was laws that were in place but weren't enacted
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at the time to protect women. And like my grandma says, my mom's mom, what good is a
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restraining order? At the end of the day, it's a piece of paper, right? And I know here in the States,
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it's one of those things where you can't even act on it until it's violated. Yes.
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Right. So like it's there until what? Right. Like it doesn't do any good. And so because of this, my mom had
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decided she was absolutely not going through this with mediation. Yeah. I mean, she was already scared,
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but this was just catapulting it. And so, they didn't show up for the mediation. There was supposed to be a
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mediation on January 26th. So, he was released back out into the public again. And he came to our family home on
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January 27th and he knocked on the door. My older brother was awake. It was just
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after midnight. Myself, my younger sibling, my parents, we were all sleeping. And when my brother answered
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the door, uh, he was standing on the other side of the door with the same 22 caliber rifle that they had warned the
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police about. [Music] Two branches of the same tree, two pieces of a soul. Where one sister goes,
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the other will be, for she is but half of the whole. He instructed my brother to go
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downstairs into our family home. He tied up my brother and I would say he like verbally tortured him. He, you know,
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talked about killing my parents and how he couldn't live without my mother. And my brother had to endure that for a
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number of hours um before he finally told my brother that he was going to go upstairs. And he used the words do the
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deed to go kill my parents. Um my older brother had to write a a suicide note I guess in a way for um this man uh just
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instructing him to tell his family, his friends that he was sorry for what he was doing. Um and then around 2:30 in
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the morning, he went upstairs in our family home and that's when my brother heard my dad yell some things in French
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cuz it was a a French matey community. And then he did um shoot and kill my father instantly. And I I'm assuming
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that that's the sound that woke myself and my younger brother up. And so when I woke up, I immediately tried to go into
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my parents' bedroom cuz I didn't know what was going on. And I was nine at the time. And so I'm trying to push the door
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open, but there's clearly someone on the other side of the door. And so I give up
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at that point. But I don't know what it was. Something told me that it was an emergency to go call 911.
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And your brothers, how old were you and your brothers when all this happened? So, my older brother Carson was 17 and
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then my younger brother Clinton at the time was five. Okay. And you were nine. And I was nine. Yes.
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And so I went to call for help. Um but I I accidentally dialed the wrong number.
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And so then I could see a dark shadow coming running towards me. So, I drop the phone and I run into the basement
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and hide. And eventually, my mom, the stalker, and my younger brother all come downstairs. And that's when my younger
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brother finds me. It was terrifying cuz at the same time he's screaming and yelling cuz he can't find my brother.
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But he had escaped at 2:30 when the gunshot went off. He thankfully was able to get out of the basement window and he
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ran to my parents' best friend's home and they called 911 and they stated, you know, he is entered our home and he has
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a gun. They heard a gunshot go off and that us kids were being held in the house or that not that we're being held
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hostage but we're in the house. Yes. And so the way the chain of command goes, that 911 dispatcher would let the
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officers know who were on duty at the nearby police station. So that's about 45 minutes from my community, but that
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police station closes at 2 a.m. And this is happening after 2:30. Yes. So they would call the constable on
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duty and let him know and then he would then give, you know, further instructions. So they did. They called
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him and he said, "Go out to the Paul residence and see if you can get him to come out and talk to him." As if he's a
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rational person right now. Yeah, absolutely. As if none of the other information had been said at all
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or was important. Yes. He was also the only uh trained hostage negotiator for this RCMP
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station. So like the person who should have been going out and talking to this clearly
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irrational person. Yes. holding hostages. He could have called for SWAT, anything,
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backup. Um, but he didn't. And instead of, you know, just hanging up the phone and
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maybe getting up himself because he'd know he'd have to come here, keeping an eye on the situation, he's
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responsible for it. Yeah. He accidentally fell back to sleep. I can't imagine having that
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position and doing that, like having such disregard for the situation. Yeah. So, he's in the basement with us
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kids and my mom. And at this time, he's losing his mind. So, he's upset. He looks at my mom and
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he tells my mom, she's going to have to pick whether it's myself or my younger brother that dies next if we can't find
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my older brother who isn't in the house at all anymore. Not at all. And my mom doesn't know. And
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so, we looked in all and all of the places. I mean, it was a tiny little basement and it was all open. And so
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eventually my mom wanted to separate him from us because he threatens our life again. My mom was able to whisper to me
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and give me a hug. We were sitting on the stairs and she hugged me and said, "I'm going to go upstairs with him. You
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stay down here." Mhm. And call for help. So they went upstairs and we stayed downstairs and I went to
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pick up the phone and it was sitting it was actually it wasn't even up on the telephone like this little stand that
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she had. It was on the floor. uh it had been ripped out of the wall, the cord. And I don't know, I mean, obviously I
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can have regrets now, but that is one thing that sticks out in my mind is I wish I had just plugged it back in.
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Um cuz it wasn't like ripped broken. It was just I thought I would get electrocuted if I plugged it in.
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You were a kid. I know. And I do try to give myself that grace when I think back.
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So we stayed in the basement and eventually we fall asleep. So my mom's upstairs for 2 hours uh with this man.
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He had my mom also write a a note and in the note she stated that she wanted us to go to her sister uh who lived in
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Ontario. And um then there was a section that he asked her to write also a part of you
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know his own I don't know his own grievances. And so at 5:30 there's two officers outside of
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our home just like, "Hey, come out." Yeah. So they they do make contact with my mom. It must have been right after
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she went upstairs. They call the house and my mom answers and she answers one-sided questions. Are you okay? Are
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you hurt? Um, a lot of the answers she gives though are maybe I don't know because she's just she's trying to
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protect herself. Yeah, but he doesn't stop her from being on the phone. That's like the whole part I never really
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understood. I think it's just I think of he had um been drinking and he was doing
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drugs before coming to our house from what witnesses had seen him before earlier in the day. He went and he drank
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a bottle of cherry. Um, yeah, it's just one of those things that I I guess repulse maybe is the word for me, you
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know, like with my mom's being name being Sherry. And so at the end of the call, she says,
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you know, can I can you call me back in the morning? I have to go. And so then at that point, they let her know help is
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on the way. Um, but there was no real help coming at all. At 5:30, the two officers are instructed
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to go get my brother. And then they bring him to this command post that they're finally setting up in a
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community next to ours. Not even in our community. And this is a small community. Like I
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grew up in a small town. Like there's usually not a lot around small communities. Like you're kind of just a
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little dot on the map. So this isn't close by. No. Not as close as it could be at least.
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No. Exactly. It could have been just at our town hall, but instead it's like 8 to 10 minutes
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down the road. And I mean, at this point, we're 3 hours into it. Yeah. And so my brother has to go there and he
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he watches them. No sense of urgency. Use a ruler to try to draw out a map of our house. Meanwhile, there's still no
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SWAT at our home. And I'm sleeping. My younger brother and I fall asleep. At 5:30, I must hear a noise. I'm gonna
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guess it was a gunshot that woke me up because my mom was shot in the arm. Um I don't know that it's her arm because
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when I finally get upstairs, I try to go into now my bedroom. Uh and I can hear my mom on the other side of the door and
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she said, "Why do you have to shoot me? You already shot me in the arm." And I'm
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thinking she thought I'm just genuinely realizing this right now. I'm thinking she thought it was
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maybe a police officer on the other side of the door. And so she's like she's saying all this
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to like inform who's ever on the other side because why would she say that otherwise?
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And so I get scared by hearing that and I run into my parents' room and the whole time my my little brother stays
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with me and I get up on the bed and I and I go to call for help. I call the emergency number again. Um, and I asked
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them for uh three ambulance cuz I don't know where my brother is. Right. You still haven't found him?
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No. Yeah. And then I I call another time. A 911 dispatcher hangs up on me. We don't know why, but they hang up on
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me. And I realize I look over and I see my dad. And when I tell you it was like,
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"Oh my gosh, he's going to help us. like why isn't he helping us? So, I tried to
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wake him up, but I didn't know at the time. He was dead already at that time. My younger brother came around the side
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of the bed uh and he saw my dad. I didn't, but I could tell by his reaction u that something was wrong. So, I just I
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just left my dad. It's almost like I just moved away from him and I I didn't touch him again after
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that. I just left him alone. Mhm. And it's at just after 6:00, between 6:00 and 6:30, um that my mom tries to leave
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my bedroom and uh she's shot one more time. She shot in the shoulder, but because of the type of weapon it is, um
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the the bullet spirals and so it severed her spinal cord and um she died right in
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front of myself and my younger brother. The stalker stayed in my bedroom and then I heard a noise and it was the
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sound of the gun. He turned it on himself and he committed suicide on my um childhood bedroom floor.
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And we don't know that. So we stay in my parents' room. Um and eventually my mom's alarm goes off at 7 because she
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would have been getting us ready for school. Yeah. Um, and I take the phone off the
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hook at that point cuz it's like an alarm and phone allin one and I'm worried that he's going to come into the
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room. Eventually, my younger brother and I move onto the floor and we're on the opposite side of the bed. Um, so we're
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trying to hide there so that if he does get up, he can't see us. Uh, and so we continue to wait um and
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wait. That was um quite a long time. and um where we're sitting and waiting and I never share it
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cuz it feels so dehumanizing. Um so I had to go to the bathroom and I had broken my arm. um
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rural winter wonderland of Manitoba and I had to have a bag over my arm. And so the option was to cross my mom's
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body and risk him seeing us cuz I thought he was alive still or um I had to use the
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garbage bag and like lay it out and then go to the bathroom. And so I always thought like when they came in after I
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was mortified mortified of these police officers coming in and it just like it seemed so I don't know
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it just seemed like we're already in this position and now I had to do this. When did someone finally come in?
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Not until 8:30 in the morning. 8:30 and the stalker got to your house after midnight.
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Your brother escaped after 2:30 and no no law enforcement came into the house until after 8:30 that morning.
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8:30. And when they came in, they they just yelled out, "This one's gone. This one's gone." Well, first they, you know,
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usual RCMP, whatever they might say, like weapons down here. Yeah. Um, and then I can just hear
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them, one officer yell out, "This one's gone. This one's gone. And then this one's gone."
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And then next thing you know, there was two paramedics um who were community members. They were my friend's fathers.
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They came in, they threw two blankets over us and picked us up and carried us out. And when they were carrying us out
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to the ambulance, I could hear a man speak and I thought it was my brother. I remember shifting a little my weight
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like, "Oh my gosh, Carson's here. He's okay." You know, cuz at this point, I have no idea where he is.
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You haven't seen him since you went to bed the night before. Yeah. And so we were put in the
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ambulance and then they had asked the ambulance to be sent to the Miss Accordia Hospital so that we could go
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see uh my mom's like co-workers and everyone there and that they could take over and look at us there just to make
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sure that like we weren't hurt and nothing was done to us. Um, and it was there that they kind of coralled us into
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a room and uh told us at that point that my parents had in fact died. Wow. The only thing I wanted was to see my best
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friend. And I begged. I begged. I kept saying, "I just want to see Sheena. I just want
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to see Sheena, who's my sister, who I call my sister now." And so finally she comes and we just I can my memory is
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like so clear. I remember just running up to her and it was probably like the length of the couch distance but like I
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just remember us running to each other and holding on to each other cuz it's all I wanted was her all day and I just
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held on to her. I don't know. It was like I've got someone I love back with me. Mhm.
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Um like an anchor. Yeah. Yeah. And what stands out to me in all of this is this was not You talked earlier about like
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human error. This wasn't one human error two months before this happened. This wasn't one human error the night that it
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happened. This was error upon error upon misstep upon misstep the entire way through.
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Yeah. We have those two officers taking my mother's statement, failing to tell the judge about the rifle that she's
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concerned about. Um, how about we go back to even 1990 where they let him out and they say that
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he's he's no threat to society. Yeah. Yeah. And then from there, we have the the letter that was never filed,
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the law clerk who accidentally the case being sent to family court, not criminal court. Exactly. And it
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proceeding to go to the mediation in family court. Yeah. Absolutely. And then not even like
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the inquiry process where I, you know, I didn't tell you how the judge blamed the
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town's people saying that they should have done more to protect our family, which I'm sorry, I thought that's what
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law enforcement was for. Like these are the very people put in place. Yeah. Right. like by the government to
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protect you. To protect you quite literally their job. That's Yeah. That's that's kind of their
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whole thing. Yeah. And then we have officers who, you know, didn't actually enter our home,
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didn't SWAT, never came in, didn't get out to our community, the officer who fell asleep, like they're all taking the
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stand. One officer says that my mom by throwing by telling him she threw the cake in the garbage that started it.
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That was a reaction. Yeah. She She gave him She was the instigator. Yes. Oh my god.
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Yeah. Not Not the man stalking her. No. Not his problem. Absolutely. Response to
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that was the problem. Yeah. [Music] What was next for you and your siblings? Like what was the future like for that
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for you guys? Yeah. So, a few days after, honestly, I don't even know how long after um they
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passed uh we had the funeral in our community and I just think of how full the church was. It was filled with, you
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know, the firemen, the community members, people from my mom's work. And I just remember sitting there and I was
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still, you know, it was I was in shock like I I it's out of body kind of experience of like looking around and
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thinking like, oh, everyone's here, but it still didn't really grasp the idea of
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like what I had like completely lost and like this new normal there. Actually, there's a a news
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clipping and I remember the memory so clearly, not of the photo of me, but like the other side of it as the
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9-year-old looking at my parents' casket and just like kept reading, you know, like mom, daughter, those like name tags
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that they put on caskets and it's like son, father, and I just like remember like looking over and over
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and thinking like, "Oh my gosh, When we first moved there, we had to live with my aunt. It was hard because
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we had to move within a month's time. And I mean, this was a community that I had known my whole life
00:26:57
and small intellect. Small. Yeah. I didn't want to leave. But Carson turned 18 within a month of moving out there. So
00:27:07
within 2 months of my parents passing away, he had turned 18. And so he like quote aged out, right?
00:27:13
He became an adult. Yeah. Which is just sad, I think, for him. Like I have a 19-year-old. I
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couldn't imagine him just being like, "Okay, you're on your own now cuz no one's getting money for you to take care
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of you." So, especially what he went through. Yeah. Um she had brought us to one
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playbased therapy. Um and by doing so they suggested yes they do they could use therapy.
00:27:41
Yeah. You think? Yeah. But this is the '9s and um she never brought us again. And so we never had any formal like
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professional help after that. And your older brother wouldn't have had nothing any because he was
00:27:58
quote unquote too old. Yeah. By the time he even got there and that would have been him to advocate
00:28:03
for himself. I mean, what as a kid? Yeah. I I don't know any 18-year-old that would be advocating for themselves
00:28:10
for mental health support. No. No. So, because of the lack of mental health support um along the way, my my
00:28:19
older brother um took his own life. That's ultimately what I would say it was really at the end of the day. So, um
00:28:28
he took his own life and he himself didn't make it to 38 either. and losing him was uh
00:28:37
harder than going through what I went through with my parents. Um just because he was my everything. Um
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I looked up to him so much. Um so it was really hard losing him. And my younger brother, I noticed in 2023 his mental
00:28:57
health was on a decline. you know, when someone's not doing well. And I think that's what hits me so hard with this is
00:29:05
that in November of 2023, my younger brother uh took his life as well. And you know when they talk about
00:29:17
denial, I didn't feel that with my parents and I didn't feel that with my I mean I felt it with my older brother
00:29:24
where it's like oh I thought I saw him you know I saw a car driving by and I thought he was in it. Um this I
00:29:32
immediately said no no no let's go like we have to go check him like and that was really really
00:29:42
difficult um because I had been through it already right and you think oh you've been through
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this already like okay in 2 weeks that's what I would tell myself 2 weeks you'll
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be you'll be like not better but you'll be further along in this process um and with my brother's death. One
00:30:01
thing that had prepared me, my older brother's death for my younger brother's death was that I had this epiphany
00:30:08
moment with my older brother. I was driving down the street, someone was walking down the street and I thought,
00:30:15
"Oh, life goes on. Life goes on." And so when my younger brother died, I think I was quick to
00:30:24
want to like jump through this grieving process to like make life go on. Yeah. And it it doesn't obviously work
00:30:33
that way. And following my my brother's death, everyone I feel like was on high alert
00:30:40
for me, like wondering how I was doing mentally. Um and it took time. Um, I think I was just in
00:30:50
that like the depths of grief for so long. And it's funny actually, I just said to someone recently, I think it was
00:30:58
my older brother's birthday, he was born March 17th. So, it was the March 17th following my younger brother's death,
00:31:05
that I finally felt a little like myself again. Like, I can I could finally look at myself in
00:31:14
the mirror and I remember just being like, "Oh, hi." like there you are cuz it does mental health and like
00:31:22
losing someone to suicide is so hard. But then it was that realization after my brother my younger brother died
00:31:31
that he never made it to 38 either and then now I'm here and like why you know so constantly having to to go
00:31:41
through that and wonder why as in like why am I still here? Why me or a little bit of that?
00:31:51
What's the purpose? Mhm. Do I need to do something? Is there, you know, is there is there
00:31:57
something bigger? And I think that's why I have that um fear also of like when is
00:32:06
when is the is the saying the shoe going to drop for me? You know, so so what do you do for your own mental
00:32:16
health? We've we've talked a little bit about mental health and how important it
00:32:18
is having lived through this trauma. Like what what do you do for you? Yeah. Well, for the longest time, I
00:32:26
didn't want to talk about it, right? I think we all had this notion growing up like, oh, if I there's something wrong
00:32:32
with me or some way I feel, everyone's going to think I'm quote crazy, right? Um I'm lucky. I'm really have the most
00:32:41
amazing husband and my kids. So like they help me and then obviously yes therapy is is great as well. And then it
00:32:50
was in 2017 one of my cousins um she was working for the Ontario Federation for Friendship Centers. She said you know
00:32:59
your parents' names were named in some research done. There's grassroots organizations that had been fighting for
00:33:07
years, like years and years, asking for answers as to why is there such a high number of missing and murdered
00:33:15
indigenous people across the country? She was like, would you consider um testifying? And she had nothing to do
00:33:22
with the inquiry process, but if that's one more story that can hold the government accountable for sure,
00:33:30
then yes, of course. Yeah, definitely add your voice. Yeah. So, I said yes and I testified. I
00:33:36
shared my my story and just the way that that for people that don't know, it was
00:33:40
the National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls to in Canada.
00:33:46
In Canada. Yes. Yeah. And it was really through that process that I met other family members and I kind of like set a
00:33:57
like a light bulb off like oh my gosh this isn't just the cards that I was dealt. M these cards have been dealt to
00:34:05
so many other indigenous people communities and as I met some people that had so many similar stories to me I
00:34:14
was like okay I need to be involved in this somehow and so then it was 2019 I get this call from the commissioner if I
00:34:24
would join the national family advisory circle and then it was there that I met other family members survivors in
00:34:32
hearing ing their stories. It shook me to my core. Um, and I thought, okay, more needs to be done and more needs to
00:34:43
be said and these people need to be heard, stories need to be heard. And so I continued on on the national inquiries
00:34:51
um, committee with the family members. And then we came to a closing where we handed over the final report, all the
00:34:58
research, the findings that had been, you know, brought together from these the evidence.
00:35:05
The evidence. Exactly. And it was there that I grabbed my husband's leg and I whispered to him. I said, "I get it."
00:35:11
And he said, "You get what?" Um I said, "I'm the girl." And he just like looked at me and I was like and I just was
00:35:19
overcome with emotion because I would I think that was kind of the first time I realized like I'm the girl that I
00:35:26
shouldn't be here statistically. Right. You're you're the statistic. I'm the statistic. Yeah. Um I'm the the
00:35:33
child that you know the systems are up against. I feel like that's such a sign that this is what you were meant to do.
00:35:43
I love that you said that. Uh because you don't even know this, but my spirit name um that I have that was gifted to
00:35:51
me by an elder is White Thunderwoman. Uh and he said that I'm here to make a lot
00:35:56
of noise. And so that's just so special that you said that cuz Yeah. You were making noise before you were
00:36:03
even trying to really. Yeah. Yeah. But you are doing actually so so much in advocacy. Can you talk a
00:36:13
little bit more about that and like how you got involved in it? It was a few months later a friend of
00:36:18
mine Dr. Robin Bourgeoir and she had uh decided to start the decolonial reading circle at uh Brock University. she um
00:36:28
had wanted to take action and I just admired that so much about her and so I joined the national I remember emailing
00:36:36
like can I join this this decolonial reading circle and so we you know became friends and eventually uh had the honor
00:36:45
of of co-hosting with her um and following her lead for this decolonial reading circle but I think that was kind
00:36:52
of that moment where I thought I can do something like there's something I can do too. And it was Robin who introduced
00:37:00
me to this incredible organization. It's Abby House. It's a transitional home for
00:37:04
indigenous women in in St. Catherine's. And I thought, okay, this is an organization I also want to get behind.
00:37:12
I really realized how much the decolonial reading circle really showed me, okay, you can do something yourself
00:37:18
as well. And I thought, okay, well, I'm going to do this fundraiser. And um boy am I ever happy I did because within 24
00:37:26
hours we raised $10,000. My god. Yeah. And that was that was it. Then I was like I want to start a walk. We
00:37:34
didn't we didn't have a walk for May 5th and so we started a walk and you know we're hosting it again this year. And
00:37:41
along the way through this journey being with community friends finding that place that I called home in St.
00:37:49
Catherine's has been a huge part. I think even for myself, mental health at that point, I didn't even realize
00:37:58
the importance of talking about it. And I have people ask me actually quite often, you know, like what are things
00:38:04
that you do? Like I think they're hoping to find an answer for themselves to help their own mental health journey.
00:38:11
And I just say like remember the things that make you feel good when you're in a good headsp space. What
00:38:19
are the things you're doing at that point? I still to this day when I go home I feel closer to my parents
00:38:26
and it's just that like nice connection that I get to go back there and then I feel closer to myself, tradition,
00:38:32
culture. Home is more than just like a a physical place. I think it's also like a
00:38:36
spiritual and emotional place too. Absolutely. And it sounds like that's what this community was to you.
00:38:41
Yeah. So that kind of leaves me with like a huge question for you. Where do you need us? What can we do?
00:38:50
That's a huge question. Um I will say this and and I and I've said this uh quite often since I heard
00:38:59
this elder say this. Now that you've heard my story, what will you do with it? now have the conversations with not
00:39:10
without and bring change for with indigenous people, right? Cuz I think a lot of times those conversations are
00:39:16
happening not outside of Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. And come out to gatherings. I always always say come to
00:39:26
like the May 5th walk for instance. find out where there are gatherings happening, where there is action taking
00:39:33
place, because that's where you're going to find out. And getting involved, and it's not like that one off, that one
00:39:39
time you're going to stand and you're going to march with us. It's the ongoing support.
00:39:44
Yeah, absolutely. That is where it helps. And like you I think a lot of people think, "Oh, I wouldn't be
00:39:51
welcome." No, you would be welcome because we know that the change for me anyway, it has to happen together. There
00:40:00
is power in numbers and that is where it will actually propel forward is if we're doing the work together. That's
00:40:11
why it's important come out to the events, do the work with not for but with communities. I'm one story,
00:40:20
right? Please channel this energy into all the other people or the people who are
00:40:26
searching for missing family members right now have no answers um or are being met, you know, with
00:40:34
roadblocks from the justice system like help them. my justice is this being talked about and for other people to
00:40:45
bring action for other people who are missing or are currently going through the court system for their murdered
00:40:52
loved one. So, we talked a little bit about how your mom was very aware that her life
00:40:59
was in danger, that at least her life was in danger, if not her families. If there's a listener out there right now
00:41:05
who who is in that place in their mind, they feel threatened. they feel like their life is in danger. What What can
00:41:11
they do to make their voice heard and protect themselves? Yeah. Well, first, if they haven't if
00:41:16
they have shared and they feel like they're not moving forward with the justice system, specifically like my
00:41:22
mother's case, um tell your friends, your family, um advocate for yourself. Yeah. And also do not question like no
00:41:33
matter what always follow your gut with it because our instincts we have them for a reason. We also as women are made
00:41:42
to believe that oh we're making it up. We're making a big deal out of it. Oh it's nothing.
00:41:49
But I think a lot of people might also keep it to themselves in fear of oh am I making this a big deal? I don't want to
00:41:56
burden anyone. No. any of your loved ones will not feel burdened, right, with these fears or concerns that you're
00:42:03
having. And this is something just to okay, flying here before I came, I thought, oh, the thing that's going to,
00:42:14
and this is a scary realization, the thing that's going to kill me is probably going to be my story.
00:42:22
Like that's a fear. like being an advocacy and sharing is is this what's going to kill me? Like is it is there am
00:42:32
I going to piss someone off? You know, so it's still there that fear. It feels like you're isolated for so long in
00:42:40
these situations and would anyone care? So, we care. We care. I appreciate that so much. Fallon, I
00:42:51
cannot thank you enough for being here and being willing to tell us and the Crime Junkies your story. Such an
00:42:58
important one. Um, is there anything else you'd like to add at the at the tail end of this? I think for me, I just
00:43:05
want people to understand that yes, my story happened in the '9s, but I hope that they can also see the ripple effect
00:43:15
of what this has on obviously my brother's lives, my life, like not to to take myself out of it as well, um but
00:43:25
then how it affects these communities and that you might see um an indigenous woman that is missing. But like we say
00:43:36
it for a reason. They are someone's daughter. They are someone's maybe mother. They're an auntie or sister, a
00:43:46
human. As much as you are giving ears to my story, listen to theirs as well. And remember that they are a part
00:43:56
of a community. I will be the first to say it. I am privileged and people will listen to me quite often. I'm white
00:44:06
passing and so I think for me I want to acknowledge that because then I also want people to shift and think would
00:44:14
they have maybe listened as intently if I looked different if you weren't you. Yeah.
00:44:23
Yeah. And you mentioned a GoFundMe. Yes. We'll make sure to link that in the show notes as well as resources for the
00:44:29
US and Canada. So, uh, listeners, be sure to check that out. And again, thank you so much for being here.
00:44:35
I honestly I just want to thank you because without platforms like this to share our stories, we do feel alone. So,
00:44:43
I appreciate it very much. [Music] [Music] that a hug. I know. I'm like I'm like, "Oh, there's
00:45:17
a microphone in between us." Oh my gosh, thank you so much. You were amazing. You
00:45:22
did such a good job. Thank you. [Music]