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Brother testifies about night Reggie Bushie went missing

THUNDER BAY – On the night Reggie Bushie went missing, his brother woke up in the water where the 15-year-old’s body was eventually found.
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The body of 15-year-old Reggie Bushie from Poplar Hill First Nation was found in the McIntyre River on Nov. 1, 2007, nearly a week after he was last seen. (Nishnawbe Aski Nation)

THUNDER BAY – On the night Reggie Bushie went missing, his brother woke up in the water where the 15-year-old’s body was eventually found.

On Thursday at the coroner’s inquest probing the deaths of Bushie and six other students from remote communities attending high school in Thunder Bay, Ricky Strang emotionally recounted the last night he saw his younger brother.

Strang and Bushie, along with as a group of friends from their home community of Poplar Hill First Nation, took the bus to the intercity area in the late afternoon of Oct. 26, 2007 and after hanging out at the Intercity Shopping Centre, began drinking in a wooded area along the river about a 15-minute walk from the mall after acquiring alcohol from a runner.

They met up with classmates from Pikangikum First Nation, some of whom have already testified at the inquest, and continued drinking.

After a couple of hours and going through that initial haul of alcohol, which included beer and other hard liquor, the group obtained a second run and consumed that under the May Street bridge. The other members of the group left the two alone, with Strang acknowledging they were both drunk.

“I think we passed out under there. I remember seeing him passed out,” Strang testified, describing the last time he saw Bushie alive.

He said he did not remember seeing his brother in the water.

When Strang woke up just east of the May Street bridge he called out for his brother but didn’t receive an answer and couldn’t find him anywhere. He then started walking back to his McIntosh Street boarding home, located in the east end, a trek he said he only partially remembers.

An earlier witness from Thursday morning, Raymond Albert, was living in the boarding home and while wasn’t officially in charge of the students was helping to look after them.

He told the inquest Strang arrived home very late that night and was soaking wet, dirty and very intoxicated. Albert said Strang told him he fell in a ditch but didn’t believe the story.

Strang woke up the next morning and Bushie hadn’t returned home. He later went with school counselors, who drove him back to the river, where they looked for his brother.

He spoke with city police after Bushie was reported missing and told them to check the river because he “had a feeling” that’s where his brother was. Strang said he was told the officers had already searched the river but he told them to look again.

Bushie’s body was located by a police dive team on Nov. 1, 2007. His cause of death was determined to be drowning with alcohol intoxication recognized as a contributing factor.

The two brothers arrived in Thunder Bay together in September 2007 to attend Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School. Strang was starting Grade 11 after spending two years attending high school in Ear Falls before that school shut down while Bushie was beginning Grade 9 after going to elementary school at home in Poplar Hill.

They were initially separated and living in separate boarding homes on opposite ends of the city. Strang started in a home on Huron Avenue before being moved to one on McIntosh Street. Bushie’s first home was a five-minute walk from the school before moving into the McIntosh Street boarding home because he wanted to be closer to his brother.

With his final question of the examination-in-chief, coroner’s counsel Trevor Jukes asked if Strang had any children.

Strang answered he has a two-year-old son.

“I named him after my brother,” he said.





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