After years of waiting, the families of seven First Nation youth who died while attending high school in the city took their first step toward finding answers.
The inquest into the deaths began Tuesday at the provincial government building on Red River Road. The inquest is looking into the deaths of 15-year-old Jethro Anderson, 18-year-old Curran Strang, 21-year-old Paul Panacheese, 18-year-old Robyn Harper, 15-year-old Reggie Bushie, 17-year-old Kyle Morriseau and 15-year-old Jordan Wabasse.
The inquest hearing took deputations from eight organizations seeking standing. The organizations included the City of Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay Police Service and Board and Nishnawbe Aski Nation.
Jonathan Rudin, who represents six out of the seven families, said although it will be hard for the families to go through the inquest, they’re ready to find answers.
“Everyone deals with this differently,” he said.
“This is very hard. Some of the families haven’t had answers to very basic questions. They’re really hoping this process will at minimum provide some of those answers. All of these families have other children. They have cousins, nieces, nephews and they’re all facing that difficult decision of where they’re going to go to high school.”
Rudin said the families now know that going school can have fatal consequences so there needs to be recommendations to prevent these tragedies from happening again.
Currently, Rudin is not representing Curran Strang’s family. The Toronto-based lawyer said that it wasn’t too late for the family to become involved in the inquest but suspected that all their interests would be addressed.
“I can’t speak to why one family did not want to participate,” he said. “The family has had the opportunity and they make their own decisions. It is not too late for anyone to come forward. We still don’t know when the inquest is actually going to start.”
Ontario Regional Chief Stan Beardy also requested standing for his organization. Beardy, the former Grand Chief of NAN, said he had moral and political reasons for seeing the inquest resolved in order to find the answers the families need to move forward.
He stressed the importance of finding useful recommendations in order to prevent such tragedies from happening again.
“I was NAN Grand Chief when the seven deaths occurred,” Beardy said. “I have been intimately involved. All First Nations in Ontario have an interest in this inquest.”
NAN Grand Chief Harvey Yesno said they’re delighted that the inquest has finally reached this stage. Yesno suspected that there’s some uncertainty for First Nation families considering sending their children to Thunder Bay.
Although education is important, families are thinking about the teens who loses in their lives while attending school, he said.
“We’re looking forward to this,” he said. “We want to remain focused on the families. We’ve been asked by our communities so we sought standing on that basis.”
The coroner is expected to reach a decision about who can stand within six weeks.
