At an emotional information convention in Toronto on Monday, First Nations leaders did not maintain again when it got here to the unresolved deaths of Indigenous individuals in Thunder Bay.
They need the northwestern Ontario metropolis’s police service disbanded and an out of doors police service to research unresolved deaths.
Nevertheless it was the heart-wrenching tales of the households of family members who misplaced their lives — Mackenzie Moonias, 14, Jenna Ostberg, 21, and Corey Belesky, 31 — that drove house the necessity to get solutions and accountability.
Mackenzie’s mother says she desires the lack of her daughter resolved. Ostberg’s mother and father say their daughter was a latest school graduate, artist and girls’s advocate. Belesky’s mother described him as a loving, caring man.
The information convention at Queen’s Park was held days after Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) laid a number of prison charges in opposition to the previous police chief, former police service lawyer and a workers sergeant. However there is a lengthy historical past of controversy involving the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS), together with their dealing with of demise investigations.
WATCH | Why First Nations leaders are calling for Thunder Bay police power to be disbanded: 
First Nations households, leaders name for disbandment of Thunder Bay Police Service
First Nations leaders from northwestern Ontario are calling for the Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) to be disbanded and urgent the province’s inspector common of policing to herald an out of doors service to research latest deaths of Indigenous individuals. CBC’s Michelle Allan breaks it down.
“These households have been left with out credible investigations into the deaths that occurred not too long ago of their family members by the Thunder Bay Police Service,” Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa instructed the information convention.
“We can’t proceed to let these instances go unresolved.”
The Thunder Bay Police Service Board and the town’s police chief have each confused they’re working to regain the general public’s confidence.
Later Monday, TBPS Chief Darcy Fleury issued an announcement renewing these vows.
“I do know TBPS is beneath scrutiny. I take very significantly my accountability to construct confidence and welcome the involvement and knowledge of Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) and different Indigenous group leaders at any time as we proceed in our dedication to advance fact and reconciliation.”
Thunder Bay police Chief Darcy Fleury, left, is sworn in by magistrate Jerry Woods, proper, final spring. Fleury says he acknowledges the excessive stage of scrutiny the police service faces and says he is dedicated to fulfilling suggestions to enhance the service. (Marc Doucette/CBC)
Fleury is predicted to additionally make feedback to the media after the Thunder Bay police board’s common assembly Tuesday morning.
Here is extra concerning the three investigations highlighted throughout Monday’s information convention and what the households need to say.
Corey Belesky
The TBPS has decided Belesky’s demise to be a murder, however his household says they nonetheless do not know what occurred to him. Corey was a member of Marten Falls First Nation.
The TBPS says officers had been dispatched to a residence within the 100 block of Brent Road simply earlier than 1:10 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2022, once they discovered Belesky’s physique. No arrests have been made.
The investigation is “lively and ongoing,” Fleury stated Monday. “Of the 15 murder investigations initiated in 2022, 14 are accomplished and now earlier than the courtroom.”
Donna Belesky, who additionally was on the Toronto information convention, speaks about her brother, Corey Belesky, a 31-year-old discovered lifeless in Thunder Bay in 2022. (Cole Burston/Canadian Press)
Donna Belesky stated her brother loved occurring walks together with his household, enjoying video video games and attending household barbecues. She stated the TBPS has not stored in contact with the household since his demise.
“It has been one 12 months, 5 months and 21 days since my brother was taken from us. In my household, we nonetheless know nothing. We do not even know his precise reason behind demise,” she instructed the information convention.
“Most communication that has been made has been us reaching out to [the police]. Now we have so many questions and no solutions. We really feel just like the Thunder Bay police forgot about my brother and our household.”
By way of tears, Corey’s mom, Colleen Belesky, described her son as a beautiful, caring man.
“Police have to do their jobs. They should overlook concerning the pores and skin color of individuals as a result of regardless … Corey meant the world to me and my household.”
Mackenzie Moonias
Mackenzie’s physique was present in Lake Superior on the Thunder Bay marina on Dec. 18, 2023.
{The teenager} moved from Neskantaga First Nation to the town to finish her highschool schooling on the Matawa Schooling and Care Centre.
Days earlier than Christmas, greater than 100 individuals held a candlelight vigil for Mackenzie on the waterfront, the place they sang, drummed and launched floating lanterns into the skies above Lake Superior.
Dorothy Sakanee holds a photograph of granddaughter Mackenzie Moonias. Neskantaga First Nation Chief Chris Moonias says police didn’t take Sakanee significantly when she first reported Mackenzie lacking. (Cole Burston/Canadian Press)
“The lack of my daughter, Mackenzie Moonias, must be resolved and totally investigated,” stated Vanessa Sakanee.
“We by no means bought solutions from the police, and so they promised us. They promised us every part.”
Mackenzie was final seen on Dec. 13, 2023. The TBPS issued a missing-persons discover three days later.
“When Mackenzie was reported as lacking to TBPS on Dec. 15, 2023, an investigation was initiated. Members of the family and group Chiefs had been knowledgeable all through the search,” Fleury stated.
Nonetheless, Neskantaga First Nation’s chief, Chris Moonias, stated that when Mackenzie’s grandmother first reported her lacking, “she was not taken significantly.”
“She went to the station on three events earlier than they lastly acknowledged Mackenzie as a lacking individual,” the chief stated.
“I typically lay awake within the evening questioning if the three days would have made a distinction.”
Jenna Ostberg
Ostberg’s demise stays beneath investigation by Ontario’s Particular Investigations Unit (SIU).
From Bearskin Lake First Nation, she was discovered lifeless in a house on Ray Boulevard on Dec. 30, 2023. Three calls had been made to police earlier than officers responded.
The primary name was made as a result of Jenna was not alleged to be on the house attributable to courtroom situations. The second name was made to cancel the primary name for service as a result of Jenna had left the house, the SIU stated.
The circumstances surrounding the third name to police that evening stay unclear.
The demise of 21-year-old Jenna Ostberg in Thunder Bay in December stays beneath investigation by Ontario’s Particular Investigations Unit. (Submitted by Melanie Beardy)
“Because the Particular Investigations Unit has famous, TBPS obtained a number of 911 calls within the hours earlier than Jenna Ostberg’s demise. The preliminary name was not associated to violence involving her and the second name indicated she was now not current,” Fleury stated.
Jenna’s mother and father, Melanie Beardy and Vincent Ostberg, described her as an artist, a magnificence influencer and a girls’s advocate who had not too long ago graduated from Confederation Faculty.
Vincent Ostberg, a former police officer, stated his daughter skilled home violence and police dismissed the household’s considerations.
“It cuts you to the center. It rips aside your dignity as a human being,” he stated.
He stated he has skilled psychological trauma since his daughter’s demise and thinks concerning the different households who’ve misplaced family members in Thunder Bay.
“We’d like a reliable police service in northern Ontario. Our individuals have to be secure.”
Help is offered for anybody affected by the difficulty of lacking and murdered Indigenous individuals. Quick emotional help and disaster help can be found 24 hours a day, seven days every week by way of a nationwide hotline at 1-844-413-6649. You can too entry, by way of the federal government of Canada, well being help providers equivalent to psychological well being counselling, community-based help and cultural providers, and a few journey prices to see elders and conventional healers. Members of the family searching for details about a lacking or murdered liked one can entry Household Data Liaison Items.
