Mary Morin hopes her daughter Charlene's death will lead to change in mental health and policing in the community. (Charlene Graham/Facebook)

By meadowlakeNOW staff

Change for Charlene

Woman hopes daughter’s death creates change

Sep 2, 2021 | 6:24 PM

Merely days after losing her daughter to a case of fatal domestic violence, Mary Morin is hoping her family’s loss will promote change in the community.

“It’s almost like people are thinking it’s small and that it will go away if they sweep it underneath the rug and not talk about it,” she said.

“It needs to be talked about more in the community.”

Morin was speaking on the importance of mental health awareness in the community. She believes a lack of education around the subject played a major role in the death of her daughter, Charlene Graham, in a recent murder-suicide.

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On Monday afternoon, Morin and other members of her family became tremendously concerned for Charlene’s safety after she went missing. Charlene had recently left her abusive husband, Delane Graham, and was nowhere to be found.

The newly hired teacher was expected to be at school in her hometown of Flying Dust First Nation preparing for the first day of classes. After learning she was absent, despite being at the school earlier that day, Charlene’s family reached out to RCMP after several failed attempts to contact her.

After placing calls to police informing them of their concern for Charlene’s safety, Morin claimed she was told police would need to check in with the school and her children before approaching Delane at his camper trailer in Lions Park.

After receiving reports of shots fired at the campsite nearly a half hour later, police arrived on scene where they found both Charlene and Delane deceased. Police confirmed the incident is considered a homicide-suicide.

Call for changes to police response, mental health services

Morin believes Delane’s compiling, unaddressed mental health issues were drastically amplified by his recently acquired addictions to crack cocaine and crystal meth. She stated he revealed his newfound addictions to her in the weeks leading up to the incident, adding he sought professional help for a week before relapsing.

Morin believes a better understanding of complex mental health concerns could have had a significant impact on Delane’s addictions, his personal issues and even his marriage. She would like to see more men seek help when they are having difficulties rather than leaving them unaddressed.

Morin also feels a more streamlined process in domestic violence situations can be the difference between life and death. She mentioned Delane previously had a gun confiscated by police in the days leading up to the incident.

“They didn’t act on it, and I’m so angry because they might have been able to stop him and save her, maybe both of them.”

meadowlakeNOW reached out to RCMP, but did not receive a response at the time of publishing.

Driving change through tragedy

Morin hopes her daughter’s death will raise awareness about the importance of addressing mental health education for people in the community.

She said she is in the process of organizing a memorial walk or other awareness events to stress the significance of having stronger education surrounding the complexity of mental health.

The family wants to be Charlene’s voice and share her story so that people will recognize the dangers of domestic violence and understand how severe a situation can become. They aim to improve local mental health resources so future situations can be prevented in their early stages and emergency situations.

Morin says she remembers Charlene as someone who cared more about other people than herself.

“I want her to be remembered as a loving, caring, vibrant, easygoing person. She was a teacher. She loved her children. She was an awesome mother. She was so beautiful, and she wasn’t allowed to bring out that beauty in her because of the abuse.”

A funeral for Charlene is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 6 at 2 p.m.

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elliott.knopp@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @ElliottKnopp