Report urges more re-investigations into deaths of Indigenous people in Thunder Bay, Ont.

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The chair of the police board in Thunder Bay, Ont. has apologized to families following the completion of a report that re-examined the deaths of multiple Indigenous people and recommended investigations into more than a dozen other cases.

Ontario's Officer of the Chief Coroner released a report Thursday detailing the re-investigations of nine sudden deaths of Indigenous people in Thunder Bay.

Addressed to the provincial Office of the Independent Police Review Director, the report was leaked to some media outlets last week.

It details multiple issues in how each of these nine deaths were handled, including instances where a lack of oversight or follow-up with family members and witnesses was noted, and cases where exhibits and evidence were not sent for forensic analysis.

The report described some of these investigations as "problematic" or "deficient." It says several of the deaths should have been treated as suspicious.

The Ontario coroner's office says it released the report after the families of those involved were contacted.

In one case involving a suicide, a key witness was allowed to re-enter the apartment and later, a cellular device was taken without the knowledge of an officer at the scene.

Another case produced evidence that a sexual assault may have taken place, but the matter was not investigated as a suspicious death or murder.

And in one instance, the report says an individual was found without a shirt or shoe on his right foot, but no investigation occurred into why.

A secondary report, which the office did not release, also was leaked to media, recommending the review of 25 unsolved cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Thunder Bay Police Services Board chair and city councillor Kristen Oliver apologized to families whose loved ones' deaths need to be re-examined.

"I certainly feel for these families. They've been through a lot, and I know that the (police) chief also stated the same thing," Oliver is quoted by APTN as saying.

"When we look at the re-investigations and the outcomes of these investigations, I think that these families continue to feel grief and sorrow because the closure just isn't there, and for that I sincerely apologize that families are feeling this continuous sense of the re-investigations."

The Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) released a statement a couple of days after the reports were initially leaked and reported on.

"The TBPS has understood the need to take a critical view of the entire death investigation process which includes Police, the Coroner and the legislation which provides the legal framework," Police Chief Sylvie Hauth said.

"Therefore, we are awaiting the final report, to be written by an independent author, which will provide recommendations that will be beneficial for not only the TBPS, but for all agencies involved in the death investigation system. These recommendations will have an impact on death investigations in Ontario."

The latest report is in response to some of the dozens of recommendations made in the Office of the Independent Police Review Director's examination of the Thunder Bay Police Service, entitled "Broken Trust," that was released in 2018.

The office found the service's failure to adequately investigate certain cases was in part due to "racist attitudes and racial stereotyping."

It also concluded that the sudden death investigations it reviewed were so "problematic" that at least nine should be reinvestigated.

"I find systemic racism exists in TBPS at an institutional level," then-director Gerry McNeilly said.

The director at the time also recommended a possible re-investigation into the death of Stacy DeBungee, 41, of Rainy River First Nation, who was found dead on the banks of the McIntyre River in 2015. Within three hours of finding his body, the police service issued a statement saying the death "did not appear suspicious."

The latest report suggests that DeBungee's death be investigated separately from the other nine. It says the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General has engaged the Ontario Provincial Police to conduct the re-investigation.

The report also recommends further police investigations into 14 other cases and for a coroner-led review of another two. One case was referred to the province's Special Investigations Unit.

The OPP, meanwhile, has launched a separate criminal investigation into members of the Thunder Bay Police Service, although the exact scope of the investigation is unclear. The Ontario Civilian Police Commission also is investigating the service.

With files from APTN's Dennis Ward and Kenneth Jackson, and The Canadian Press

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