Family and friends of Brady Francis, a young man from New Brunswick's Elsipogtog First Nation, took their ongoing fight for justice to Moncton City Hall on Saturday.
Nearly two years after Francis died in a hit-and-run collision in Saint Charles, N.B., they have yet to find peace or closure.
The night of his death, 22-year-old Francis called his parents to pick him up from a party so he wouldn't drink and drive. However, while he awaited his parents, he was struck by a vehicle.
“As soon as we got to where he was it was already too late – he had already been hit and he was laying there with somebody on the phone with 911,” says Francis’ mother, Jessica Perley.
Maurice Johnson, the man accused in the hit-and-run, was later charged with failing to stop at the scene of an accident involving bodily harm or death. He pleaded not guilty and elected to be tried by judge and jury – something Francis’ family had hoped wouldn’t happen.
“When I see justice for Brady, what I'm looking for is a confession,” says Francis’ sister, Darienne Perley-Francis.
Johnson, originally from Saint-Charles, has elected to be tried in French. However, Francis’ family doesn’t speak the language, and worry they won't understand the proceedings.
"It would be nice to have the translation for the proceedings,” says Perley. “It’s just, to me, it’s only fair."
It's a sentiment shared by supporters such as rally organizer Patty Quinn, who wanted to share a message with the public on Saturday.
"We're here to remind people that Brady was killed in a hit-and-run and that we live in a bilingual province,” says Quinn. “The justice system in the province seems to have forgotten that."
Quinn says the family has every right to know what's happening in the courtroom.
"It's terrible because you don't know what's going on,” says Quinn. “You don’t know how to feel, you don’t know how to react, and you don’t know what’s going on."
The family says having support from their community in trying times means everything.
"It makes me feel like we're not alone," says Perley-Francis.
Meanwhile, the case will go to trial in January 2020 at the Moncton Courthouse, where supporters say they will show up to rally and support in a similar fashion when the time comes.