They were police investigations beset with problems, probes into the deaths of Indigenous people so deficient they must be reopened, according to a highly critical police watchdog report released Wednesday. Investigators from the Thunder Bay police had “misguided” approaches to some cases. They reached “premature conclusions” about how someone died. Inexperienced officers were “thrust into a lead investigator role.” Forensic specialists failed to “fulfil basic requirements.” This, according to the detailed report released by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), coming after a two-year systemic review of how the Thunder Bay police force handled more than three dozen sudden death investigations since 2009, and a select few dating back to 2000. At least nine investigations were “so problematic” they should be reopened, according to police review director Gerry McNeilly — including four deaths of Indigenous youth that were the subject of a recent coroner’s inquest. Due to the poor quality of the initial investigations, McNeilly said he could not be confident the probes were “accurately concluded or categorized.”Unveiling the report in Thunder Bay Wednesday, McNeilly said the deaths the OIPRD probed “were too often handled differently because the deceased was Indigenous.” Below, a look at the nine cases McNeilly recommended be reopened — and what he says went wrong. The report does not identify the victims in those cases, but acknowledges some of the names may already be in the public domain. It instead uses initials, which are not connected to the actual names. The Star put names to six of the cases, based on previous reporting.Read more: Scathing police watchdog report calls for reopening of nine sudden death probes in Thunder BayWatchdog to release long-awaited report on police investigations of Indigenous deaths in Thunder BayThunder Bay ...
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