Family wants to see report on woman’s death at Delta Hotel
RCMP say decision to release review of inquiry up to Regina Police Service
The family of a Regina woman who plunged to her death down a hotel laundry chute say they are disappointed after meeting with police to discuss results of the RCMP’S review of the Regina Police Service (RPS) fatality investigation.
“We had discussions about the RCMP review that had been completed, but we didn’t actually see the documentations or the findings of the review,” said Delores Stevenson, the aunt of Nadine Machiskinic, the 29-year-old woman who was found dead in Regina’s downtown Delta Hotel in January 2015.
The RPS has come under criticism for a number of delays and missteps in its investigation.
Stevenson, who delivered a small model teepee bearing her niece’s photo to the Legislative Building on Wednesday afternoon, said accountability means more than simply saying it — you have to show it.
According to an emailed statement from RPS spokesperson Elizabeth Popowich, making the recommendations public was discussed in the meeting, which took place Tuesday, and it “will happen, but not today.”
It is unclear whether the whole review will be made public or just the recommendations, but Popowich said a news conference is being organized by the RPS to speak to the issue.
“How and how much we say will be up to the (police) chief,” said Popowich. “The review was not mandated by anyone; our chief approached the RCMP with his request, so it didn’t come with a requirement — or promise — of making any of it public.”
She added the planning of a news conference demonstrates Chief Evan Bray’s “willingness and desire” to tell the public more, but how that looks will be up to him.
“I think after going through what my family and I had to go through for two years to get where we’re at, I think that we deserve that much,” said Stevenson about getting to see the review. “Civilian oversight is needed within our province.”
The Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism (SCAR) released an emailed statement expressing the family’s disappointment and pledging their support.
“The RCMP’S review, like the original RPS investigation, illustrates the need for an independent oversight body of policing in Saskatchewan,” said the statement.
Asked about the report earlier this fall, an RCMP spokesperson said it was for the RPS to release publicly or comment upon.
SCAR, along with Colonialism No More and the Justice for Our Stolen Children Camp, say they “stand behind the family with a united voice calling for an independent citizen police review board that will hold the police in this province accountable.”
“I don’t really feel a sense of justice,” said Stevenson. “I honestly question what justice is if at the end of the day we, myself as a family, still doesn’t have answers.”
She says her niece’s case may be reopened if “additional and new evidence came to light.”
For now the family is focused on healing and they hope some of the issues that came to light during the coroner’s inquest will help create some change within the justice system.
“I brought a teepee with Nadine’s picture on it in memory of her and in memory of her children, in memory that she’s a mother, she’s a daughter, she’s a sister,” she said. “The teepee represents family . ... At the end of the day, regardless of the outcome of how the system works, her memory lives on and I honour her memory.”