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THUNDER BAY — Kevin Mamakwa died “a very tragic death, a senseless death, that could have been avoided.”
That’s according to Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum, the third witness to testify at a coroner’s inquest into the 27-year-old Kingfisher Lake First Nation man’s death in custody at the Thunder Bay District Jail.
“The main message that we wanted to convey is that the Anishinaabe citizens, we need to have more mental health services,” Achneepineskum said on Tuesday.
The second day of the inquest into Mamakwa’s death marked the six-year anniversary of his passing.
Presiding Coroner Dr. Michael Wilson acknowledged this fact before introducing Achneepineskum.
She said that building a new jail is necessary, but that the government must also acknowledge the need for culturally-appropriate resources for First Nations people inside those walls.
She said these resources need to include an alert system for classifying inmates as high risk for mental health issues and provisions for spiritual as well as physical needs.
She said that consistent and adequate services and resources for mental health to confront the opiate pandemic are needed to address the overrepresentation of First Nations people in correctional institutions.
Achneepineskum, who represents 49 First Nations as Deputy Chief said she has been both witness and observer at too many inquests into jail deaths.
“It is very, frustrating, but we are not going to stop repeating ourselves,” she said about the recommendations made. “It is very sad and unfortunate that, you know, Anishinaabe Nation has been part of many inquests.”
Achneepineskum said one of the challenges First Nations people face regarding incarceration is being taken from their home communities, where there is a lack of resources to house them in custody, and put in Thunder Bay where they sometimes wait months or years for a court date.
She said another example of gaps in services for First Nations people is when the government concedes to building a culturally-appropriate facility but then does not provide the resources to manage it.
The suicide prevention program Choose Life, for which her council had secured federal funding, was running successfully until the funding was cut, she said. Programs like Choose Life allow First Nations people to provide care within their communities, she said because “we as First Nations know what’s best. We get to sit with the people at the funerals. We get to see what they’re asking for, what they’re needing. This is why it’s so important that (programs like this) be First Nations-led.”
Thunder Bay Jail Superintendent Ryland Forrest was the fourth witness and spoke on Tuesday as well. His testimony will continue on Wednesday and included exhibits of documents that inmates are bound to fill out upon admission to the correctional facility.
Forrest explained how the OTIS – Offender Tracking Information System – works to record all relevant information about each inmate including current court dates, upcoming dates, name, alias, their digital image, physical identifiers such as tattoos, and personal information.
He said the OTIS also has alerts to document whether a person has allergies, if they have past attempts of suicide, if they have physical health concerns, an escape from custody risk, a behavioural risk, attempts at assaulting officer, if there’s a non-association or a non-communication order.
He said all of this data is put into OTIS so that if they already have an OTIS profile then the staff at the correctional facility can track any changes. For example, this person has a history of self-harm, or has a non-association order that they can’t communicate with a certain person, that information will all be recorded in OTIS.
The inquest will continue on Wednesday and is scheduled for nine days in total.
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