Robin Tomah was 34 years old in 2001. She was a competitive, ambitious and beautiful woman; fiercely devoted to her four children and proud of her Mi’kmaq identity. She grew up on the Big Cove reserve in New Brunswick, but spent most of her adult life at the Millbrook First Nation just outside Truro, N.S. She had recently moved back there after a short absence to take a new job and to be close to the father of three of her children.

Robin was always involved in sports – hockey, baseball and soccer - and encouraged her kids to do the same. She’d worked for the most part as an employment counselor on the reserve, constantly upgrading her education. By 2001, her interests had shifted to business. She’d taken on a marketing job at the new Millbrook aquaculture facility, a key operation for the band’s expansion into the business community.

Temporary housing on the
Millbrook reserve where
the assault took place.

But some people were jealous of Robin and her good looks and her good fortune. She liked to party and go out on dates. She was no saint. If someone pushed her around, she would push back. It could get physical. And it did in the summer of 2001.

The Millbrook reserve stretches along old Highway 2 just north of Truro. The Catholic church is shaped like a wigwam on a slight rise overlooking the community of modest homes and band offices. There are two long, single-storey buildings that look like motels, just off the main road. Most of the residents call it “the Strip.” This is the temporary housing complex where band members live while they are waiting for permanent residence. This is where Robin and her four children were staying in August 2001.

Robin Tomah in happier times.

At that time, the band’s tobacco store was in the unit right next door to Robin’s. It was a busy, noisy place. On the other side lived a young woman named Jennifer.

One night there was a party with lots of drinking and shouting. Robin and her boyfriend went next door to see if they could get the occupants to quiet down. Instead they got drawn into a fight, and Robin punched Jennifer. She admits it is not out of character, especially in the environment of the Strip.

“When you live next door to so many people that … wouldn’t hesitate to do it to you. I mean you know when you live on the reserve your best defense is offence. And I just basically punched her in the head and that was it. And next day, she apologized. She said, you know, she’s sorry for mouthing off – she should have just kept her mouth quiet – and that was it. That was the end of that,” says Robin.

But it wasn’t the end. Jennifer, the girl next door, was the daughter of Joanne Sylliboy, another well-known woman on the reserve. She was about to become Robin Tomah’s worse nightmare.

Everything just went up