Inquest continues after long-weekend layoff

THUNDER BAY – The coroner’s inquest into the deaths of seven First Nations resumed Tuesday after the long weekend.

The inquest continued into its fifth day at the Thunder Bay Courthouse, resuming where it left off on Thursday examining the circumstances surrounding the death of Paul Panacheese, who died at the age of 21 in November 2006.

On Tuesday the inquest heard from an aunt and friend of Panacheese. Last week his mother testified and told the five-member jury and presiding coroner Dr. David Eden about the night Panacheese died in her home.

Panacheese, along with Jethro Anderson, Curran Strang, Robyn Harper, Reggie Bushie, Kyle Morriseau and Jordan Wabasse, died between 2000 and 2011 after they left their remote First Nations communities to attend school in Thunder Bay.

Six of the students attended Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School. Wabasse was in Thunder Bay taking courses through the Matawa Learning Centre.

The first week of proceedings included testimony from a forensic pathologist as well as a toxicologist, who provided evidence detailing the cause of death for each of the students.

The inquest is expected to last six months and hear from as many as 200 witnesses.