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ONT NDP MP Wants RCMP to Investigate First Nations Deaths in Thunder Bay

Thursday, 15 June 2017 08:20

Charlie Angus is urging Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to Direct Mounties to look into the deaths.

Ontario NDP MP Charlie Angus wants Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to ask the Mounties to investigate the deaths of two indigenous young people in Thunder Bay, Ont.

In a letter to the minister, Angus says First Nations leaders have also asked the RCMP to intervene in the investigations.

The body of a 17-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy were found less than two weeks apart in local waterways.

On Tuesday, Goodale said municipal policing falls within Ontario's jurisdiction, adding Ottawa would “respond constructively” if local authorities were to express the need for federal support.

Indigenous leaders say children are dying in urban centres like Thunder Bay because they are placed at risk, far from their families, in order to seek education and health care services not offered in remote communities.

Last year, an Ontario inquest explored the circumstances surrounding the deaths of seven First Nations high school students that occurred between 2000 and 2011 - all while they were living in Thunder Bay. 

(The Canadian Press)

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