Family remembering slain Lethbridge woman as independent, generous, kind-hearted
原始发布日期： 2016-02-09 发布者：李方字变大 字变小
Police are investigating after Candy Little Light, 56, was found dead in her Lethbridge home in the 100 block of Columbia Boulevard on Sunday, February 7, 2016. Photo courtesy of the Little Light family / Calgary Herald Little Light — known to loved ones as “Candy” — was abused through years of residential school and foster care. In her adult years, she struggled with substance abuse, found herself in and out of the justice system, and some people didn’t accept her because of her aboriginal background and her same-sex partner, according to family. Nevertheless, she was determined to return to school and get her degree in social work, a goal she reached four years ago. “Everybody was so proud of her,” her nephew Eithan Carter, said in a phone interview Tuesday in Calgary. “She was a very strong and very smart woman.” So when Carter and his family learned Little Light 56, was found slain in her Lethbridge home on Sunday, they were all shocked by the news. And they say the lack of details from investigators is frustrating. “It’s tragic circumstances. We don’t know a lot of information so everybody is taking it hard,” Carter said. Lethbridge police officers and emergency workers were called to Little Light’s home in the 100 block of Columbia Boulevard shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday to respond to a call of a severely injured woman where they found Little Light’s lifeless body. She was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy was conducted Tuesday in Calgary, but the cause of death is not being released at this time. Multiple individuals from the apartment were detained for questioning and the area was searched by the canine unit, but there are no suspects in custody and no charges have been laid at this time. Little Light’s death is being investigated as Lethbridge’s second homicide of 2016 and comes just weeks after Irene Carter, 78, was found stabbed to death in her home. Police say the two cases are not linked. For now, the family is focused on grieving for a woman they are remembering as independent, generous and kind-hearted. Carter said Little Light grew up on the Siksika First Nation in a large family with many siblings. Later she moved to Calgary where she lived for 20 years, before settling in Lethbridge about a decade ago. She never married or had children of her own but was very family-oriented, treating her many nieces and nephews as her own kids. “When I was young, I remember my aunt giving us five dollars to help clean up my mom’s house. She would take us to movies,” Carter said. She was strong in the Blackfoot traditional ways and was big on education, he said, adding she wanted to go back to school to “go back and work in her community.” Carter’s brother, Melvin Little Light, said his aunt’s death comes not long after they laid his grandfather to rest. “We just finished coming from a funeral not even three weeks ago. We buried my grandpa and she was there. Now this,” he said. The brothers say their family has always been supportive of an inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women and girls, adding now more than ever, they feel galvanized by the movement and will be writing to politicians of all levels to take action. The family is also planning to travel down to Lethbridge later this afternoon for a candlelight vigil at 4 p.m. outside Little Light’s home, and will be joined by supporters from Calgary, Siksika, the Blood reserve and Lethbridge. (Calgary Herald) |