Lawyers representing the families of six of the seven youth that are the subject of the First Nations Youth Inquest issued their fifth report card.
It updates on the progress made in regards to the 145 recommendations after the deaths of seven Indigenous Youth who died while attending high school in Thunder Bay.
This year was the fifth annual report card, with an overall grade of an A-. This grade is accumulated from the various work done by eight different groups that have been implemented in the inquest. The parties that were graded are Canada, Nishnawbe-Aski Nation, Ontario, City of Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay
Police Service, Matawa Learning Centre, Northern Nishnawbe Education Council & Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, and Keewaytinook Okimakinak.
Higher grades are applied to groups that are completing or starting to work towards the recommendations, while failing to meet expectations results in a lower grade.
This year, the city of Thunder Bay saw an improvement to an A-, though there still are improvements to be made.
“I think the issue for the city is that some of the recommendations are directed to do things that they think they’ve done and we don’t think they’ve done,” explained Program Director with Aboriginal Legal Services Jonathan Rudin. “One example that keeps coming up is around the buses. One of the recommendations from the jury was that there be training for drivers about working with particularly intoxicated users around the buses.”
“The City of Thunder Bay says they have all sorts of interesting programs and training for drivers but they haven’t actually responded to that particular recommendation. The city keeps saying they think they’ve done it, and we keep saying you haven’t done it,” said Rudin.
This year, the Thunder Bay Police Service was not given a final grade. This is in response to the report of the Officer of the Independent Police Review Director in Broken Trust.
“We need to see how that process works, as there is a reinvestigation process that is underway,” said Rudin. “That process itself will be subject to a report, so we will see to which extent the Thunder Bay Police have been able to actually do the things they said they were going to do, I don’t know that.”
Rudin goes on to state police have initially said they carried out investigations correctly in regards to the seven deaths, but that was later shown to be false.
There have been gradual improvements, as year one saw a grade of a C+, while 2020 had a B+.
Information on the process and grading system can be found here.
