A lawyer representing the Ontario government testified Thursday at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls hearings in Ottawa and said the report released by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director on the Thunder Bay police came as no surprise.
Kate Forget, legal counsel in the Indigenous Justice Division of Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General says the report on policing in Thunder Bay shows neglect and racism in the investigations into the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous peoples.
She said the report confirms the concerns a grassroots movement was telling the government 25 years ago.
“The report speaks for itself,” Forget told the commissioners. “I can tell you one thing for certain, those findings will be of no surprise to Indigenous people across this country and to most of us here in this room today.”
