Expand police review to all MMIWG cases, Indigenous leaders urge

Watchdog launched probe amid systemic racism claims against Thunder Bay officers

All of the northern Ontario cases of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls should be considered for re-examination by the outside provincial police watchdog body, Indigenous leaders say.

On Monday, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) confirmed it was re-examining nine death investigations of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) that were handled by the Thunder Bay Police Service, dating to the 1990s.

The OIPRD, which operates at an arm’s length from the Ministry of the Attorney General’s office, began investigating the Thunder Bay police last November after complaints by First Nations leaders who say cases involving Indigenous people are often closed and dismissed without proper examination.

The Attorney General’s Indigenous Justice Division has identified about 25 Ontario cases concerning MMIWG for the probe, said OIPRD director Gerry McNeilly. However, the “OIPRD will look at them in a general way for our systemic review, but they will not all form part of the review. We are working with the Indigenous Justice Division to review nine of the MMIWG cases.”

As well, the OIPRD is also re-examining another 30 death investigations as part of the probe of the Thunder Bay police over allegations of systemic racism and deficient investigations.

Of the approximately 30 cases, most are Indigenous; however, some are non-Indigenous homicides. All are being looked to see if there are any discrepancies in how the cases are handled.

But Anna Betty Achneepineskum, deputy grand chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), says the probe should not stop in Thunder Bay.

Achneepineskum said all of the MMIWG cases in the NAN territory should be re-examined. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are in charge of MMIWG cases outside of Thunder Bay.

“We need to find a process to extend this to the OPP. We have concerns as well on some of the deaths of our people,” she said.

“There are cases that I am well aware of, even from well before the 1990s, where police haven’t addressed concerns of the families and where there has been on outreach or communication with the families.”

> CORRECTION

Cambridge University placed second in the 2018 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. A Sept. 9 Insight section article about Stephen Toope’s appointment as the new vice-chancellor of the university mistakenly said Cambridge ranked fourth in the most recent rankings.