Julian Falconer holding the picture of the nine death reinvestigation victims
There is concern about a potential conflict of interest for Thunder Bay Police Chief Sylvie Hauth coming from family members of Indigenous people who died in Thunder Bay.
The concerns have been raised in a statement from Falconers Law Firm.
The statement included the families of nine Indigenous youth who are having their passings re-investigated following the release of the Broken Trust: Indigenous People and the Thunder Bay Police Service report.
The firm wanted clarification as to whether Chief Hauth is involved in the re-investigations.
The statement indicated that their requests have gone unanswered, leading to questions of a possible conflict of interest.
Julian Falconer from Falconers Law Firm represents the families of the deceased, including Stacy DeBungee of Rainy River First Nation, whose body was found in 2015 in the McIntyre River. Police initially deemed the death “non-suspicious.” The Broken Trust Report singled out the DeBungee investigation as poorly carried out.
Falconer believes the Thunder Bay Police have failed the Indigenous community.
“My clients are once again left in the dark, denied the transparency and answers they deserve about what happened to Stacey DeBungee and about the role of the Chief of the Thunder Bay Police in the re-investigation process,” said Falconer.
The lawyer feels harsh measures are needed to ensure the safety of this community: “Now all things must come to an end, and this service is one of them. Indigenous people will remain in danger, in jeopardy, as long as the Thunder Bay police are responsible for protecting their safety.”
DeBungee’s brother Brad says it feels police have taken “two steps forward, three steps back” in how they handle Indigenous people’s deaths.
He said the police are not being “trustworthy in their actions,” accusing Chief Hauth of not keeping the promises she made to him when the OIPRD published its report.
“[Hauth said] she’d be honest and open with me if I had any questions that she could answer, but I haven’t heard anything back in the last year or so on any direction that they are taking,” says Brad DeBungee.
“It’s almost three years since the OIPRD report came out, since the recommendations. They haven’t seemed to follow any of them. It’s like they’re playing a game.”
He questions whether police treated Stacy fairly or justly when they ruled his death not suspicious.
Acadia News reached out to the Thunder Bay Police Service for comment on Tuesday’s event.
When it comes to the recommendations of the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) in the Broken Trust report, Police spokesperson Scott Paradis referred to previous updates to both the Thunder Bay Police Service Board and added the next annual update will be provided to the board in January 2022.
Paradis also referred inquiries regarding the re-investigations to the Chief Coroner’s Office.
