DeBungee / Rainy River First Nations Complaints Lead To Systemic Racism Investigation of Thunder Bay Police Service
September 23, 2016: Falconers LLP lawyers, Julian Falconer and Meaghan Daniel, represent the DeBungee family and the Rainy River First Nation in respect of the death of 41-year-old Stacey Lance Debungee. In a recent public statement Julian Falconer criticized the Thunder Bay Police Service investigation stating, “It was clear this was another sad example of a pattern, which is that Aboriginal deaths are simply investigated in a fashion that is different from other deaths.”
Falconer said the family issued five letters asking that DeBungee’s case be assigned to another police service. It also filed a complaint with the OIPRD over the local police’s handling of the case. The OIPRD committed to conducting a systemic review of racism in the Thunder Bay Police Service on July 4.
Related Documents
OIPRD Complaint March 18, 2016
OIPRD Response To Complaint July 4, 2016
Letter to Jacqueline Dojack, Chair, Thunder Bay Police Services Board from Falconers LLP September 7, 2016
Letter from J.P. Levesque, Chief of Police September 9, 2016
In the News
Lawyers, media driving wedge between city and Indigenous people: Mayor TBNewsWatch, September 27, 2016
Crime generally going down; Some lawyers hurting city’s cohesive efforts: Mayor The Chronicle Journal, September 27, 2016
Police conduct investigated in McIntyre River death TBNewsWatch, September 23, 2016
Thunder Bay, Ont., police face ‘systemic review’ of Indigenous death investigations CBC News, September 23, 2016
Thunder Bay Police Service Under Investigation Net News Ledger, September 23, 2016
Thunder Bay police face allegations of ‘systemic’ racism Toronto Star, September 22, 2016
