First Nations leaders say they've lost faith in Thunder Bay police, call for disbandment and OPP oversight

First Nations leaders in northern Ontario are calling for the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) to be disbanded and subject to provincial oversight, with a Nishnawbe Aski Nation deputy grand chief saying she's lost faith that police will serve the community. 

"It's quite evident that they're not fulfilling their responsibility and their role, and that needs to change," said Anna Betty Achneepineskum, a deputy grand chief with the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a political organization that represents 49 First Nations across Treaty 9 and Treaty 5 in the province.

"There are many people who have lost faith that they will get justice," Achneepineskum said in an interview with CBC News.

Achneepineskum said she no longer has hope the police service will meaningfully address the systemic racism toward Indigenous people that's documented in reports by several police oversight agencies.

"In the last five years, when the reports came out, there was enough evidence and documentation to say that change needs to happen and we keep getting these statements that deny, that minimize and possibly justify what has taken place. That's not enough."

Others echoing Achneepineskum's call include the Ontario NDP's Indigenous and treaty relations critic, and a lawyer who has advocated for Indigenous families in Thunder Bay for decades. 

The demand for drastic change comes just days after a report for Ontario's attorney general, completed by a team of provincially appointed investigators who spent years looking through TBPS sudden death investigations, was leaked to some news organizations, including CBC News. 

The report details serious concerns with the investigations of 14 Indigenous people who died suddenly in the city between 2006 and 2019, with investigators saying they should be reinvestigated. Two other cases, with similar investigative concerns, should go for a coroner review or inquest, and another 25 unresolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) cases in Thunder Bay should be reviewed, according to the investigators.

That's at least 41 cases, and there could be more.

The report begins with the disclaimer: "Due to finite timelines and resources allocated to the process outlined in this report, cases provided here are not an exhaustive list," adding there may be other sudden death cases that "warrant further investigation." It ends with the recommendation for an external audit of all death investigations in the police department's record management system.

"I see their faces, and also others who have died on the streets and rivers in Thunder Bay, where it was quite obvious their deaths were not investigated," said Achneepineskum, adding she knows many of the cases.

"It says to us that we are not worthy of our death being investigated."

What happens next with those cases is up to Ontario's attorney general, who received the report on March 2 and is still determining what to do with it, according to a ministry spokesperson.

As he considers next steps, at least 41, mostly Indigenous, families wait, not knowing the deaths of their loved ones may be reinvestigated or reviewed, or if there will be another crack at responding to the questions left unanswered by the original TBPS investigations.