‘Long path’ ahead of jurors in inquest
Families of seven aboriginal students hear testimony of events leading to their deaths
After beginning in a Thunder Bay, Ont., courtroom too small to accommodate the families of seven dead students, the inquest into the students’ deaths heard testimony of what is known to have happened to each on their final days.
The seven First Nations students all tragically lost their lives while living hundreds of kilometres away from their communities. The students had no choice but to leave home in order to seek an appropriate high-school education. Four women and a man make up the jury of what is one of Ontario’s largest inquests, which started Monday. It is expected to last until March 2016 and hear from 200 witnesses.
Family members had to vie for one of 10 seats set aside for members of the public. There was an overflow room and the inquest was broadcast live stream, but First Nations leaders argued families had the right to be present in the courtroom as the proceedings took place.
Dr. David Eden, the presiding coroner, announced the inquest would move to a larger room on Tuesday. He also cautioned the jury that they were embarking on a “long pathway” and that it is also everyone’s job to manage those differences with wisdom and not with anger.
The inquest was called after a Star series on the lack of investigation into deaths of the six males and one female who lost their lives between 2000 and 2011. Reggie Bushie, Jethro Anderson and Jordan Wabasse were only 15 years old. The other students were Curran Strang, 18, Paul Panacheese, 21, Robyn Harper, 18, and Kyle Morrisseau, 17.
Coroner’s counsel Trevor Jukes said the inquest would be held in three phases due to its size and the amount of material that needs to be covered.
The first phase would hear of the deaths of Panacheese and Harper. Both were found dead at home.
It is unclear why Panacheese died, the inquest heard.
Panacheese began his studies at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School in 2003 at age 18. When he died on Nov.11, 2006, the Mishkeegogamang First Nation student was living with his mother, Maryanne, who had moved to Thunder Bay.
Panacheese died after a night socializing with friends, first at home and then out briefly. Close to 1 a.m., he returned home and was let in by his mother, who then went to bed upstairs. Paul stayed up to make something to eat and watch TV. Maryanne heard a crash, went downstairs, saw her son and called 911, the inquest heard.
Harper, also a Dennis Franklin Cromarty student, died on Jan., 13, 2007, just days after arriving in Thunder Bay. Harper was boarding with a Thunder Bay family so she could attend high school.
The inquest heard that Harper met friends at the mall. They got alcohol and went to a park. There is later video footage of her stumbling at a bus shelter. She was taken to the home she boarded at by a shuttle service set up to watch out for First Nations youth in distress.
Harper was left at the home and it was later ruled she died of acute alcohol toxicity.
The inquest also heard the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Anderson, Strang, Bushie, Morrisseau and Wabasse — the last to die. The boys were all found in and around the waterways surrounding Thunder Bay.
Phase two of the inquest will focus on the broader evidence and trying to put what is going on behind the scenes in a broader context, said Jukes.
That includes Canada’s troubled residential school legacy and how that is “relevant to what we are talking about today,” he told the inquest.
Nearly 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were taken from their homes and sent to residential schools that were largely run by churches and funded by the Canadian government for almost a century.
Phase three will deal with trying to come up with recommendations on how to prevent this from happening again.
“We tried to organize things the best we can,” Jukes said. Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said outside of the courtroom that it was “unacceptable” that, after many years of effort and continual delays, the joint inquest was launched without adequate accommodation for the families.
“The justice system has failed these youth and their families throughout this process and continues to fail by opening one of the largest inquests in Ontario in one of the smallest courtrooms imaginable,” Fiddler said.
“It is outrageous that insufficient provision was made to accommodate these grieving families on this very difficult day, and forces us to ask what accommodations would have been made if the victims were anyone but aboriginal youth.”
Nishnawbe Aski Nation is a political organization representing 49 First Nations communities in northern Ontario.
This inquest has had many stops and starts. Ontario first announced an inquest into Bushie’s death but eventually the other students were included.
The inquest was set to begin again in 2012 but faced many delays, one caused by the lack of aboriginal people on the inquest jury.
This lack of aboriginal participation in the justice system was the subject of a major report by former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci and it was also a Supreme Court challenge.
“It is outrageous that insufficient provision was made to accommodate these grieving families on this very difficult day.” ALVIN FIDDLER NISHNAWBE ASKI NATION GRAND CHIEF