First Nations student deaths inquest: on-call support worker testifies
CBC News | Posted: October 28, 2015 6:14 PM | Last Updated: October 28, 2015
The resources available to help students from remote communities comes under scrutiny this week at the inquest examining the deaths of seven young First Nations people who came to Thunder Bay to further their education.
- First Nations student deaths inquest: Testimony from Robyn Harper's mother
- In depth: First Nations student deaths inquest
Evidence suggests those resources failed Robyn Harper, who died in 2007, when she was attending Dennis Franklin Cromarty school in Thunder Bay, said Jonathan Rudin, a lawyer representing six of the seven families during the inquest.
"You know this is going to be one of the themes of this inquest is how much can a place like Dennis Franklin Cromarty [high school] and NNEC [Northern Nishnawbe Education Council], which supervises it, how much can they do, what is it fair to expect them to do," said Rudin.
During Wednesday's proceeding, jurors at the inquest saw images of Robyn Harper's final hours, captured on January 12, 2007, on a surveillance camera at the old Brodie Street bus terminal in Thunder Bay.
Harper was 18-years-old when she died in 2007, within days of coming to Thunder Bay from Keewaywin First Nation, in northwestern Ontario.
The video was introduced as part of the testimony of David (Harley) Fox, an on-call support worker with the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council. He said he picked Harper up from the bus terminal, and drove her back to her boarding home, where he needed help to get her into the house.
Fox testified that he learned of Harper's death, the following morning.
The inquest will examine each of the seven deaths individually until the new year.
Recommendations from the inquest are expected in March, 2016.
Here is a look at the some of the proceedings from the CBC reporter in the courtroom.