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Grandson charged in death of Mi'kmaq activist Nora Madeline Bernard 
 

Police say Mi'kmaq activist Nora Madeline Bernard died last week of blunt force trauma to her face and stab wounds to her upper body, and have charged her grandson with first-degree murder.

James Douglas Gloade, 24, of Millbrook was crying as sheriff's deputies led him into a Truro provincial courtroom for arraignment Monday morning.

Mr. Gloade stared at the floor, occasionally rubbing his bloodshot eyes and face with his hands during the court appearance that lasted two minutes. He didn't speak or enter a plea and will remain in custody until his next court date Jan. 7.

The 72-year-old Ms. Bernard is best known for leading a successful fight for justice and compensation for Indian residential school survivors like herself from across Canada.

Police say her 32-year-old son found her body on the kitchen floor of her Willow Street home in Truro shortly before 3 a.m. last Thursday. He lived with his mother and had returned home after visiting friends.

Truro Police Chief David MacNeil said Ms. Bernard sustained severe trauma and was stabbed with what investigators believe was a knife to the front of her body, around the neck, but he said little else about her injuries.

“Out of respect for Nora and her family, I don't really want to get into the details,” he told media during a news conference Monday morning. The murder weapon has not been recovered.

Chief MacNeil said the motive for the killing is not very clear at this time, but investigators don't suspect robbery. There was nothing missing from the home, there was no forced entry, and police aren't pursuing any other suspects.

“Through our investigation it is believed that drugs may have been a factor in the crime, not a motivating factor,” the police chief said in response to reporters' questions.

Police identified Mr. Gloade, who was said to be a frequent visitor to his grandmother's home, as a person of interest early in the investigation. They arrested him at the Pictou Landing First Nation on an unrelated warrant Friday afternoon and took him to Truro for questioning.

“From this interview, information was obtained which led to the current charge,” Chief MacNeil said.

Police originally told the media they were charging Mr. Gloade with second-degree murder, but upgraded the charge to first-degree murder following consultation with the Crown attorney's office.

“This was a very unfortunate tragedy,” Chief MacNeil said. “I can only imagine what the family is going through to lose the matriarch of the family and a strong person like Nora Bernard and then to have a grandson charged with the crime.”

There'd been speculation in the community that Ms. Bernard may have been a target for money because she recently received her compensation cheque from the federal government as an Indian residential school survivor.

But Chief MacNeil said that doesn't appear to be the case.

Lloyd Johnson, a senior band councillor for the Millbrook First Nation of which Ms. Bernard was a member, said the community is hurting.

“At the start there was a lot of grief, a lot of fear,” he told reporters.

“Today, it's a lot of hurt. There's not a lot of anger.”

The band council was to meet later Monday to discuss with police how best to help the family and community by offering such services as grief counselling. Ms. Bernard's funeral will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. in Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Millbrook.

Mr. Gloade has a criminal record of assault, uttering death threats and numerous breaches of court orders. At the time of his arrest Friday, he was serving a six-month conditional sentence in the community for charges of uttering a threat and breaching a court order.

Mr. Johnson said he knows Mr. Gloade well from being around the community and because he played hockey with his son. He described him as a good kid, despite his brushes with the law.

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