A First Nations man died day after leaving Ontario hospital with headache pills. Now his family wants answers

The family of Brent Sky is demanding answers after the 32-year-old from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation was discharged from a hospital in northwestern Ontario with headache pills and died the next day from a brain bleed.

Sky's body was found on the floor of his house in the Ojibway community on Oct. 27. According to his family, 24 hours earlier, he had been discharged from the Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora with ibuprofen pills, an anti-inflammatory medication that can be purchased over the counter.

"That's what I lost, and I don't wish for anybody to ever go through what we're going through" Jonathan Bruyère told CBC News about his son. 

Bruyère said Sky was always an active, healthy young man.

"The pain is indescribable."

Sky wasn't accompanied by anyone when he was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Details about how he was treated during his roughly six hours at Lake of the Woods — including who assessed the First Nations man, how long he spent there, if he was admitted to the emergency department and what treatment he received — are still unknown.

Sky's family can't give specific examples about how hospital staff may have treated him, but they worry that systemic racism may have played a role in his death. They fear the health-care staff may not have taken their son's symptoms seriously and discharged him without adequate care.

Hospital officials in Kenora as well as Ontario's chief coroner are still investigating, so there's been no final determination of what Sky experienced while there or what led to his death. 

A senior Lake of the Woods official told CBC he could not comment on Sky's case at this time but indicated the hospital is aware that cases of racism have occurred at Lake of the Woods. The official said the hospital is working to improve care for Indigenous patients.

Bruyère is encouraging others to tell their stories in hopes it will lead to improved care for Indigenous people.

"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't feel the need," he said.

Sitting at a table in Shoal Lake 40, where about 300 people live on reserve 90 kilometres southwest of Kenora, Sky's dad and mom, Tania, sifted through a stack of photos that tell story after story about him. 

Most of the photos include fishing, hockey and powwows. One with a large frame shows Sky's eight-year-old daughter, Tyla, in full hockey gear.

WATCH | Jonathan Bruyère talks about his son: