Thunder Bay police 'stopped seeing Indigenous people as humans,' says Anishinaabe podcast host

This week, an independent review of the Thunder Bay police force found that institutional racism in the force contributed to shortcomings in how it investigates the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous people.

It also recommended that at least nine cases involving the deaths of Indigenous people should be re-investigated.

The indigenous teen who escaped death in a Thunder Bay river

Eight years ago, Darryl Kakekayash says he was physically assaulted by three white men who called the high school student a “crazy native s---” and threw him into a Thunder Bay river.

The incident had an eerie resemblance to the deaths of five male students whose bodies were found in the waters surrounding Thunder Bay between 2000 and 2011.

Kakekayash’s story was never publicly told during the eight-month coroner’s inquest into the deaths of seven students who were attending school in Thunder Bay because there were no high schools in their northern First Nation communities.

Thunder Bay Declared A Disaster Area Following Flood

The city of Thunder Bay is now a 'disaster area'.

City council made the declaration at an impromptu meeting Wednesday night in the wake of a an unprecedented flood that left the city in a state of emergency. The resolution allows the city to obtain funding from senior levels of government.

Mayor Keith Hobbs said he's already spoken with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who “has assured city council that the province will be there to access funds provincially, and to assist us with accessing federal funds.”

A key theme of the meeting included the cleanup of homes flooded by sewage. Many councillors were concerned homeowners may not be able to afford repair bills, or have insurance coverage.