THUNDER BAY — Ontario's civilian police watchdog has committed to investigating alleged systemic racism with the Thunder Bay Police Service.
The Office of the Independent Police Review Director will look into whether inequity impedes local police investigations into the deaths of Indigenous people as an extension of the case of a Rainy River First Nations man who died a year ago.
The body of 41-year-old Stacey Lance DeBungee was discovered in the McIntyre River on Oct. 19, 2015. Police issued a release a day later deeming DeBungee's death to be "non-criminal" in nature before a post-mortem was conducted.
Claiming the Thunder Bay police had treated them disrespectfully in response to requests for information, the DeBungee family hired a private investigator.
Their legal counsel Julian Faulkner said that investigation raised "serious questions" as to whether DeBungee might have been murdered.
"It was clear this was another sad example of a pattern, which is that Aboriginal deaths are simply investigated in a fashion that is different from other deaths," Faulkner said.
Faulkner said the family issued five letters asking that DeBungee's case be assigned to another police service. It also filed a complaint with the OIPRD over the local police's handling of the case. The OIPRD committed to conducting a systemic analysis of racism in the Thunder Bay Police Service on July 4.
The OPP finally returned the correspondence on Sept. 16, refusing to take on the investigation, citing the complaint that would be airing before the OIPRD.
"So when faced with a concern over the incompetence of a police service, you leave the death investigation with them because of the complaint," Faulkner said.
"In my opinion, that smacks of reprisal against the DeBungee family and against Rainy River First Nations for having the audacity to seek accountability."
At the same time as emergency crews were pulling DeBungee's body from the river, Faulkner was representing Nishnawbe Aski Nation at the inquest into the deaths of seven students who left their homes in remote First Nations to attend high school in Thunder Bay.
The causes of three of those seven deaths were listed as "undetermined." Faulkner said the inquest's evidence, recommendations and verdict all reinforced a systemic prejudice in the local police department.
In a written statement, police spokesman Chris Adams said the OIPRD has not yet provided his office with details as to the scope or parameters of its investigation.
