Jurors at a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of two Indigenous men in Thunder Bay police custody have recommended more training for first responders and officers on anti-Indigenous racism and unconscious bias.
The jury also recommended the city of Thunder Bay establish a sobering centre and create more spaces in detoxification and rehabilitation centres to prevent those dealing with alcoholism from ending up in police custody.
The recommendations came at the end of the inquest into the 2014 death of 44-year-old Don Mamakwa and the 2017 death of 50-year-old Roland McKay after they were arrested on suspicion of public intoxication.
Both men died of medical conditions and neither were seen by a doctor or nurse before they died.
The jury also determined that McKay died of natural causes, while Mamakwa’s cause of death was undetermined, after the inquest heard arguments from his family that his death was a homicide and from police that he died from natural causes.
The jury also recommended that the Thunder Bay Police Services Board establish a new deputy police chief position focused on Indigenous relations and consider making public timelines for implementing recommendations from other inquests and inquiries related to police.