Mamakwa Joins Community Members Calling for Thunder Bay Police Services Reform

QUEEN'S PARK — Today at Queen's Park, NDP Deputy Leader Sol Mamakwa stood alongside First Nations Chiefs, leadership from Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Anishinabek Nation, and families from Thunder Bay left without credible investigations into the deaths of their loved ones. The group called for a complete reform of the Thunder Bay police service (TBPS) after multiple instances of corruption resulting in decades-long cold cases rendered the existing agency unfixable.

"Ontario and the Thunder Bay Police have failed these families," stated Mamakwa. "The ongoing failure to investigate the deaths of First Nations people in Thunder Bay has turned the service into a cold case factory with over 20 unsolved cases. The rightful pain, frustration and fear Thunder Bay residents feel about TBPS misconduct cannot be ignored.

"Repairing the governance would go a long way in undoing these systematic injustices. Ontario is not allocating proper resources to relieve these families from this nightmare and give them the justice they deserve.

"The Moonias, Belesky, and Ostberg families need support from Ontario to move investigations out of the TBPS and into the hands of a service capable of conducting credible investigations. They are calling for a complete reform of TBPS after countless instances of corruption have rendered the existing force unfixable.

“This isn't a simple problem, and we can't solve it overnight. Whatever the ultimate plan is, it doesn't have to be perfect; it just has to work better than what we have now."