Missing teen identified

The 92-day search for Jordan Wabasse has ended in tragedy.

Police on Wednesday confirmed a body pulled the night before from the middle of the Kaministiquia River was that of the missing 15-year-old Webequie First Nation boy, who went missing in Thunder Bay on Feb. 7.

Webequie First Nation Chief Cornelius Wabasse, no relation to Jordan, said it wasn’t the result his family and dozens of searchers were hoping for, but it does put an end to the unknown and allows the community to move forward.

“The community has been waiting patiently to recover the missing teen from our community. So it’s somewhat closure for the community and its people. They think that closure is good. And in a way it is. But we have to deal with the circumstances now,” Wabasse said Wednesday night at a hastily called news conference at a south-side hotel.

Jordan Wabasse, a fun-loving teen who adored hockey, held a closeness to his community and will be greatly missed.

“He was a friend to everyone he met,” Chief Wabasse said.

The teen’s family is coping well, given the circumstances, he added, acknowledging tough times are still ahead.

“Right at this moment they’re doing well. And I know it’s going to be hard for them over the next few days,” he said.

Lillian Suganaqueb, who headed the volunteer search team, said it hasn’t been an easy day for anyone involved, knowing in all likelihood the body found in the river was the boy they have been looking for since mid-winter.

Arising early, they spent the day consoling family members as they waited for a post-mortem examination to be conducted and an official identification to be made.

“Ninety-two days, we’ve searched. We worked alongside his grandmother. There were a few volunteers who were there every single day with the grandmother. She wouldn’t give up the search for her grandson,” Suganaqueb said.

“It’s sort of a relief that the search is over.”

Now that it is over, it’s time to help the family, she said.

“We’re just being there for them right now,” Suganaqueb said, among dozens of supporters who gathered at the hotel once the news was delivered.

“A lot of people here are here for support.”

Chief Wabasse said now the healing can begin.

“Now it’s time to move forward and start working on the closure,” he said.

Thunder Bay Police Services Insp. Andy Hay said the post-mortem, conducted in Thunder Bay, has given them a probable cause of death.

“The cause of death for Mr. Wabasse was concluded to be drowning. There is not foul play suspected at this time in this incident,” Hay said.

He added that until a body is found, foul play is always part of the equation, whether or not there is any indication it isn't natural causes.

Chief Wabasse said there are plenty of questions that must be asked in the wake of Jordan’s death, so far from his family home in an unfamiliar city where he’d been sent to get a high school education.

“We send our kids to an urban centre to go to school. We usually have our own counselors … but there are times when we cannot fully be there for them. There are questions of how can we be more help for our students who come to the urban centres.”

Chief Wabasse said First Nation parents have called for more support for students sent away to school, and Suganaqueb said it’s not easy for teens to adapt to a city the size of Thunder Bay.

Jordan Wabasse, in that regard, was not unlike hundreds of other teens who made their way to the city for school.

“For a first-time 15-year-old it’s difficult to be here in Thunder Bay,” Suganaqueb said. “It must be very new to him, very different from having a reserve and moving to an urban place.”

Like Chief Wabasse, she has plenty of questions, but said she preferred not to voice them aloud at this time.

“Right now, no comments about that,” she said.