THUNDER BAY – On the eve a report looking into systemic racism within the Thunder Bay Police Service, Matawa First Nations chiefs are demanding the department make dramatic improvements in the way it solves homicide cases.
Citing the death this past weekend of 17-year-old Braiden Jacob and the 2011 death of 15-year-old Jordan Wabasse, the chiefs say they plan to meet on Wednesday with TBPS Chief Sylvie Hauth, Nishnawbe Aski Nation Police Services acting Chief Rolland Morrison and Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro ahead of the report’s release.
“As part of the call for improvement in solving homicide cases, the Matawa chiefs will be discussing investigative approaches, reasons for unsolved homicides, how they can assist helping them be solved and more accountability in reporting,” the chiefs are quoted as saying collectively in the release.
It’s not clear if the chiefs are labelling the two deaths as homicides.
Police ruled out homicide in the death of Wabasse, whose body was pulled from the Kaministiquia River months after he disappeared. A subsequent coroner's inquest ended with a finding that the circumstances of the death were undetermined, with not enough evidence to conclusively say whether it was a homicide or accidental.
Police are awaiting autopsy results in Jacob’s death. The post-mortem is scheduled for Wednesday in Toronto.
A call for clarification to Matawa First Nation by Thunder Bay Television was not immediately returned.
The OIPRD review, Thunder Bay Police Service Practices for Policing Indigenous Peoples is expected to be released at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. The results of an investigation by Senator Murray Sinclair in the oversight of the Police Services Board are also expected to be made public at some point this week.
Matawa chiefs also expressed outrage at a viral video that appears to show a TBPS officer slapping an Indigenous youth who was on a Superior North EMS medical gurney, saying in the ensuing days non-Indigenous members of the Thunder Bay community have placed blame on the victim, who is said to have spit at the officer’s face.
The Thunder Bay Police Association later came out in support of the officer, saying they believe she will be vindicated.
