TRURO, N.S. -- The parents of Const. Catherine Campbell, a Truro police officer killed while off-duty last fall, say the support they’ve received from friends and strangers is helping them stay strong.
The 36-year-old woman was killed in Halifax last September and 27-year-old Christopher Garnier is facing a second-degree murder charge in her death.
Her parents say life has been difficult without her, but that the support they’ve received from their friends and community has been a big help.
“All of the outpouring of support we’ve had from the people in Truro and our friends, it’s just amazing,” said Susan Campbell, Catherine’s mother.
“We get through it with a lot of help from everybody else,” said her father, Dwight Campbell. “It makes a big difference.”
The Central Nova Women’s Resource Centre is launching a pay-it-forward campaign to honour Campbell and her spirit of giving to others.They’ve printed 2,500 ‘cards of kindness,’ which include a photo of Catherine on one side, and a message of explanation on the other. The card asks whoever is carrying it to perform some act of kindness before passing the card on to the next person to do the same.
“What we’re hoping people will do is take a card, perform some act of kindness, it can be small, it can be large, and pass the card on,” said Mary Jane Jeffrey, a support worker at the centre. “That’s just how we want Catherine to be honoured.”
“I’ve bought different coffees for different people and tried putting it on since this happened. And we’ve been doing that quite a bit,” said Dwight.
“It means a lot to us,” said Susan. “We don’t want her forgotten.”
Women’s centre workers will start distributing the cards March 8, which happens to be International Women’s Day.
With files from CTV’s Dan MacIntosh.
