SIU probing death of Indigenous man in custody

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is looking into the death of an Indigenous man who died in Thunder Bay police custody Wednesday evening.

Roland McKay, 50, was found dead in his cell shortly after midnight.

Police responded to an incident in the city about 7:45 p.m. that involved McKay, and medical personnel were present, according to an SIU press release.

He was subsequently “medically cleared.”

He was transported to a hospital after he was found not breathing in his cell, the release said.

While the SIU didn’t identify the man, his family has confirmed it was McKay. The SIU is a police watchdog unit tasked with investigating police officers in circumstances involving serious injury, sexual assault allegations and death.

McKay’s sister, Chief Celia Echum of Ginoogaming First Nation, said details surrounding the case are scant, which has left her puzzled.

“The (coroner) couldn’t tell me anything about what happened to Roland,” she said from Thunder Bay.

“Right now, I don’t know how I feel, you know? I’m just wondering what happened. I know that he was out in the street, but why did the cops take him to the cell?”

McKay was “the baby of the family” who lived with and cared for his grandmother in Big Trout Lake, Echum said. “He was a pleasant guy. He liked to laugh and joke around.”

He was in Thunder Bay getting treatment fora fractured arm, she said. Many people who live in remote First Nations must seek services in municipalities because of limited services available on reserves.

The Thunder Bay Police Service is under a microscope over systemic racism concerning Indigenous death and disappearance cases.