Members of a First Nations community in northwestern Ontario are accusing paramedics of negligence for allegedly waiting on the side of a road for a police escort before helping a man in the community who later died.
CTV News confirmed details of the incident through conversations with family members, the local chief of the First Nation and police sources.
Family members of a 32-year-old man from Onigaming First Nation called 911 on Thursday at 10 a.m. to report that their loved one was not breathing.
Relatives performed CPR as they waited for paramedics to arrive.
But as they waited, a picture taken at 10:45 a.m. and shared with CTV News shows an ambulance waiting on the side of the road at the community's border, seconds away from the home where the man was.
The man eventually died and a cause of death is not known at this time.
Chief of the Ojibways of Onigaming Jeff Copenace wrote on Twitter that he and others could see the ambulance from the band office.
"Today a young First Nations man died in Onigaming. 911 was called. The ambulance parked at the edge of our reserve + wouldn't come help. As his family provided chest compressions, the paramedics let this young man die. This is racism," he wrote.
The Kenora District Services Board, which oversees emergency medical services in the region, offered its condolences and said in a statement that it would conduct a "full review" of the incident.
The board also has asked Ontario's Ministry of Health to investigate. Investigators are expected to arrive in the community on Monday.
Copenace says his staff drove out to the ambulance and begged the paramedics to respond.
He added that the home may have been red-flagged by paramedics as a place where violent incidents may have occurred in the past.
Treaty 3 Police, which is responsible for policing in the area, would not say if that was the case.
However, it did confirm the 911 call was for someone who was non-responsive, with no mention of any type of violence.
Although police did receive a request to back up paramedics, they were based more than an hour away north in Kenora, Ont. By the time they arrived, paramedics were already in the home.
Treaty 3 Police cover an area 88,000 square kilometres in size – larger than the province of New Brunswick. The force has 96 officers.
Federal Minister of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu said in a statement on Twitter that she had spoken to Copenace.
"Not being able to access urgent care is unacceptable. We agreed fed, prov & community leaders must work together to understand how this happened and make sure all people in Onigaming can get the care they need when they need it," she said.
Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller said he also spoke to Copenace and called what happened "unacceptable."
"The family of the young man and the People of Onigaming deserve some clear answers," Miller said.
The community of 800 people is one in "crisis," Copenace says, with high rates of alcohol and drug addiction, a lack of mental health support and lasting trauma from the legacy of residential schools.
Copenace says he has already been to a dozen funerals in the past year.
This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Jeff Copenace, not Copenance.
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