Shsssh. This one's top secret. You should keep it to yourself, and Statistics Canada. They have a report shows Thunder Bay has one-third of Canada's reported anti-Indigenous hate crimes, indicating justice gone missing in the lives of First Nations people in northwestern Ontario, since the reports are the tip of the iceberg.
The City of Thunder Bay is inundated with mysterious deaths and violent acts of racism, and hate crimes against Indigenous youth keep spilling into the news (or should I say 'dribbling', since these atrocious conditions are never making a splash in Canada).
Northern Ontario news has seen several incidences of horrific Thunder Bay racism. Often these are bright kids coming out of remote communities to further their education. Future leaders are winding up dead. Indigenous leadership in the region has declared a complete loss of faith in Thunder Bay Police and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
Here's a partial list of Indigenous people who had their lives cut short in Thunder Bay:
Stacy DeBungee, 41, was discovered dead in the McIntyre River on the morning of Oct. 19, 2015.
Christina Gliddy, 28, resident of Wunnumin Lake First Nation was found unconscious on the gravel by the bridge over the Kaministiquia River at 8 a.m. on March 29, 2016, and died in hospital later that morning.
Clayton Chuck Mawakeesic, 38, of Sandy Lake First Nation, was discovered in the McIntyre River on July 29, 2016.
Jethro Anderson, 15, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School in Thunder Bay, went missing in 2000 and his body was found in the Kaministiquia River
Curran Strang, 18, Pikangikum First Nation, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School, went missing in 2005, body was found in the McIntyre River.
Paul Panacheese, 21, Mishkeegogamang First Nation, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School, died in 2006. Cause of death unknown, "We don't know exactly how Paul died . . . we are still waiting for some answers," said his mother, Maryanne Panacheese.
Robyn Harper, 18, Keewaywin First Nation died in 2007, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School, alleged to have died of an overdose, but questions remain.
Reggie Bushie, 15, Poplar Hill First Nation, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School, went missing in 2007 and his body was found in the McIntyre River.Kyle Morriseau, 17, Keewaywin First Nation, student in Thunder Bay, and apparently the second student from Keewaywin to die while at school, went missing in 2009, his body was found in the McIntyre River.
Jordan Wabasse, 15, Webequie First Nation, student at the Matawa Learning Centre, went missing on Feb 7, 2011, body was found in the Kaministiquia River three months later.
Tammy Keeash, 17, an artist from North Caribou First Nation, living in a Thunder Bay group home, went missing May 6, 2017, and was found dead the next day in the Neebing-McIntyre Floodway. "No evidence to indicate criminality," Thunder Bay police say.
Josiah Begg, 14, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, missing since early May, found in the McIntyre River May 18, 2017, a post-mortem examination was performed to determine the cause of death.
Stephan Banning, 22, Fort William First Nation, iron worker, body was found in the Kaministiquia River a day after his 22nd birthday on July 5, 1990, cause of death a question mark to everybody but the Thunder Bay police.
Along with student and other deaths, survivors tell of murderous assaults walking alone by rivers. Darryl Kakekayash, a survivor, was 17, from Weagamow (North Caribou Lake First Nation) attending Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School for indigenous youth from the Sioux Lookout district in 2007/2008, which is run by the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council. On Oct. 28, 2008, he was attacked, assaulted by three white males, and nearly drowned. “The ground was slimy. It wasn’t sand or anything but your whole foot would go in… when I stood on two feet, I couldn’t get my feet out. . ."
One unnamed man in his 30s is witness to such attacks, on Oct. 22, 2016. Tara Lewis tells news services that she was closing her restaurant at 11 p.m. when she encountered a First Nation man, dripping wet. He told her a group of white men driving a blue truck stopped and beat him up, threw him in a river, and returned for another attack as he emerged from the water. Lewis called police and the man filed a statement but never heard back.
A safety audit done in Thunder Bay and an inquest called for City of Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay police, and First Nations to work together to find a way forward including better lighting, emergency button poles, under-bridge barricades, and increased police patrols.
Hatred and violence directed at Indigenous people continues at an appalling rate in Thunder Bay. An act of senseless criminal violence put resident Barbara Kentner on death's door earlier in 2017. She was hit in the abdomen by a heavy trailer hitch thrown from a moving vehicle. Kentner's sister Melissa was walking with Barbara when someone in the vehicle yelled: “I [expletive] got one of them.”
Barbara Kentner’s recovery never came, stomach filling with fluids, kidneys failing, doctors saying they can do little else to save her. She succumbed to her injuries Jul. 5 and was laid to rest in Thunder Bay Jul 12. Police charged 18-year-old Braydon Bushby with aggravated assault, and eventually upgraded the charges to manslaughter. He is white. Kentner was Indigenous from Wabigoon First Nation.
Francis Kavanaugh, Chief, Grand Council of Treaty 3, says, “In the face of the OPP’s refusal last fall to support our communities with an independent investigation into the Stacy DeBungee death, the logical next step is to bring in the RCMP with respect to the three latest river deaths including the DeBungee case. With all that has transpired to date, it is painfully obvious that the Thunder Bay Police cannot credibly investigate the river deaths.”
“The river deaths are an epidemic that urgently needs to be addressed by law enforcement before further tragedies occur. Alternating silence, denial, and contempt of evidence-based Indigenous concerns about a widespread and racialized policing crisis is not in fulfilment of the statutory obligation to provide adequate and effective police services,” wrote a group of chiefs in a complaint letter to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission.
The system is obviously encountering failure when the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), which handles complaints about police in Ontario, undertakes to examine Thunder Bay police service. Chiefs from Indigenous communities in the region discussed a letter they received from Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) regarding an investigation into the Thunder Bay Police Services Board providing inadequate oversight to the Thunder Bay Police.
Deanne Hupfield, Kentner’s friend, says racist violence in Thunder Bay is non-stop. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a grandmother or an adult woman or a teenage girl or even a kid, it’s always people in vehicles coming by, yelling racist things, throwing water bottles, beer bottles, garbage. If you’re visibly brown, it’s common to have stuff thrown at you." Hupfield's sister had a crowbar thrown at her from a passing car. Police officers saw it happen and apprehended the men. “They came back and told us: ‘Don’t worry, we scared them, so they won’t be bothering you again.' Even if we call the police, they don’t come for an hour, and that’s common. And no one reports it because it’s normal.” Hupfield left the city and lives in Toronto.
Hospitalization of an Indigenous man resulted when he was hit in the head by a brick in 2014, thrown from a passing car. According to a report from Stats Can released Jun. 13, 2017, "Thunder Bay had the highest rat
The City of Thunder Bay is inundated with mysterious deaths and violent acts of racism, and hate crimes against Indigenous youth keep spilling into the news (or should I say 'dribbling', since these atrocious conditions are never making a splash in Canada).
Northern Ontario news has seen several incidences of horrific Thunder Bay racism. Often these are bright kids coming out of remote communities to further their education. Future leaders are winding up dead. Indigenous leadership in the region has declared a complete loss of faith in Thunder Bay Police and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
Here's a partial list of Indigenous people who had their lives cut short in Thunder Bay:
Stacy DeBungee, 41, was discovered dead in the McIntyre River on the morning of Oct. 19, 2015.
Christina Gliddy, 28, resident of Wunnumin Lake First Nation was found unconscious on the gravel by the bridge over the Kaministiquia River at 8 a.m. on March 29, 2016, and died in hospital later that morning.
Clayton Chuck Mawakeesic, 38, of Sandy Lake First Nation, was discovered in the McIntyre River on July 29, 2016.
Jethro Anderson, 15, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School in Thunder Bay, went missing in 2000 and his body was found in the Kaministiquia River
Curran Strang, 18, Pikangikum First Nation, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School, went missing in 2005, body was found in the McIntyre River.
Paul Panacheese, 21, Mishkeegogamang First Nation, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School, died in 2006. Cause of death unknown, "We don't know exactly how Paul died . . . we are still waiting for some answers," said his mother, Maryanne Panacheese.
Robyn Harper, 18, Keewaywin First Nation died in 2007, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School, alleged to have died of an overdose, but questions remain.
Reggie Bushie, 15, Poplar Hill First Nation, student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations High School, went missing in 2007 and his body was found in the McIntyre River.Kyle Morriseau, 17, Keewaywin First Nation, student in Thunder Bay, and apparently the second student from Keewaywin to die while at school, went missing in 2009, his body was found in the McIntyre River.
Jordan Wabasse, 15, Webequie First Nation, student at the Matawa Learning Centre, went missing on Feb 7, 2011, body was found in the Kaministiquia River three months later.
Tammy Keeash, 17, an artist from North Caribou First Nation, living in a Thunder Bay group home, went missing May 6, 2017, and was found dead the next day in the Neebing-McIntyre Floodway. "No evidence to indicate criminality," Thunder Bay police say.
Josiah Begg, 14, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, missing since early May, found in the McIntyre River May 18, 2017, a post-mortem examination was performed to determine the cause of death.
Stephan Banning, 22, Fort William First Nation, iron worker, body was found in the Kaministiquia River a day after his 22nd birthday on July 5, 1990, cause of death a question mark to everybody but the Thunder Bay police.
Along with student and other deaths, survivors tell of murderous assaults walking alone by rivers. Darryl Kakekayash, a survivor, was 17, from Weagamow (North Caribou Lake First Nation) attending Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School for indigenous youth from the Sioux Lookout district in 2007/2008, which is run by the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council. On Oct. 28, 2008, he was attacked, assaulted by three white males, and nearly drowned. “The ground was slimy. It wasn’t sand or anything but your whole foot would go in… when I stood on two feet, I couldn’t get my feet out. . ."
One unnamed man in his 30s is witness to such attacks, on Oct. 22, 2016. Tara Lewis tells news services that she was closing her restaurant at 11 p.m. when she encountered a First Nation man, dripping wet. He told her a group of white men driving a blue truck stopped and beat him up, threw him in a river, and returned for another attack as he emerged from the water. Lewis called police and the man filed a statement but never heard back.
A safety audit done in Thunder Bay and an inquest called for City of Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay police, and First Nations to work together to find a way forward including better lighting, emergency button poles, under-bridge barricades, and increased police patrols.
Hatred and violence directed at Indigenous people continues at an appalling rate in Thunder Bay. An act of senseless criminal violence put resident Barbara Kentner on death's door earlier in 2017. She was hit in the abdomen by a heavy trailer hitch thrown from a moving vehicle. Kentner's sister Melissa was walking with Barbara when someone in the vehicle yelled: “I [expletive] got one of them.”
Barbara Kentner’s recovery never came, stomach filling with fluids, kidneys failing, doctors saying they can do little else to save her. She succumbed to her injuries Jul. 5 and was laid to rest in Thunder Bay Jul 12. Police charged 18-year-old Braydon Bushby with aggravated assault, and eventually upgraded the charges to manslaughter. He is white. Kentner was Indigenous from Wabigoon First Nation.
Francis Kavanaugh, Chief, Grand Council of Treaty 3, says, “In the face of the OPP’s refusal last fall to support our communities with an independent investigation into the Stacy DeBungee death, the logical next step is to bring in the RCMP with respect to the three latest river deaths including the DeBungee case. With all that has transpired to date, it is painfully obvious that the Thunder Bay Police cannot credibly investigate the river deaths.”
“The river deaths are an epidemic that urgently needs to be addressed by law enforcement before further tragedies occur. Alternating silence, denial, and contempt of evidence-based Indigenous concerns about a widespread and racialized policing crisis is not in fulfilment of the statutory obligation to provide adequate and effective police services,” wrote a group of chiefs in a complaint letter to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission.
The system is obviously encountering failure when the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), which handles complaints about police in Ontario, undertakes to examine Thunder Bay police service. Chiefs from Indigenous communities in the region discussed a letter they received from Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) regarding an investigation into the Thunder Bay Police Services Board providing inadequate oversight to the Thunder Bay Police.
Deanne Hupfield, Kentner’s friend, says racist violence in Thunder Bay is non-stop. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a grandmother or an adult woman or a teenage girl or even a kid, it’s always people in vehicles coming by, yelling racist things, throwing water bottles, beer bottles, garbage. If you’re visibly brown, it’s common to have stuff thrown at you." Hupfield's sister had a crowbar thrown at her from a passing car. Police officers saw it happen and apprehended the men. “They came back and told us: ‘Don’t worry, we scared them, so they won’t be bothering you again.' Even if we call the police, they don’t come for an hour, and that’s common. And no one reports it because it’s normal.” Hupfield left the city and lives in Toronto.
Hospitalization of an Indigenous man resulted when he was hit in the head by a brick in 2014, thrown from a passing car. According to a report from Stats Can released Jun. 13, 2017, "Thunder Bay had the highest rat
