To: NAN, the City of Thunder Bay, TBPS, NAPS, NNEC, KO, DFCHS and MLC

  1. In order to ensure timely reporting of missing students and consistent practice among institutions when students are reported missing or during sudden death investigations, the City of Thunder Bay; TBPS; NAN; NAPS; NNEC; DFCHS; KO; and MLC should establish a working group to discuss best practices applicable to their respective roles pertaining to students from remote First Nations communities attending secondary school in Thunder Bay (students). The working group should consider:
    1. The need to ensure timely reporting to police of all missing person matters that involve a student: The working group should review and revise current education authority policies and procedures in order to generate a consistent set of policies. In particular, the document entitled Missing Student Protocol Guide [Exhibit Number 133 at Tab 31] should be reviewed and revised with the benefit of information learned at the joint inquest to help generate a consistent set of policies and procedures. The revised set of policies and procedures, once agreed upon, should be disseminated to — and adopted by — NNEC, KO and MLC. The revised procedures should include language that directs education authority employees to file a missing person report with police as soon as any member of the education authority determines that a search needs to be undertaken for a student whose whereabouts are unknown.
    2. Public awareness: The working group should discuss implementation of a public information campaign emphasizing the importance of reporting missing person matters to police without delay.
    3. Information sheets: The working group should discuss the preparation of information forms for all students to be stored with education authorities. The working group should also review the steps necessary to obtain appropriate consent to disseminate these individual forms to police in the event that a missing person report is filed.
    4. Social media search: The working group should consider how to utilize social media to assist in missing person searches and should designate roles and responsibilities for all parties accordingly.
    5. Press releases: The working group should discuss approaches to press releases pertaining to any missing person matter that involves a student. The working group should also discuss approaches to press releases in the event that a student is found deceased. The working group should discuss the various circumstances that may influence when media releases should or should not go out. The working group should also discuss circumstances that may influence how a media release may need to be worded.
    6. Best practices for interviews: The working group should discuss best practices to facilitate interviews of young people in exigent, non-criminal, circumstances. The working group should also discuss best practices to facilitate interviews in exigent, non-criminal, matters with individuals of any age who may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable dealing with individuals in positions of authority.
    7. Internal search plans: The working group should ensure that appropriate participant institutions have an internal search plan that can be implemented if a student goes missing. Without limiting the generality of what the internal plans may include:
      1. Internal search plans should identify pre-determined internal points of contact to act as information coordinators and liaisons to third parties in the event of a missing person search involving a visiting student.
      2. Internal search plans should set out a clear supervisory structure so that each institution is able to identify an individual(s) who will ensure that the internal search plan is properly executed.
      3. Internal search plans should set out how information will be provided to family members and will contain provisions that permit family members to identify third parties to act as their agents/advocates as they prefer. The plan should ensure that more than one individual can be designated by family members to receive information where necessary.
      4. Internal search plans should also set out how employees will share information externally with any other relevant institutions, political bodies or family members.
      5. All internal search plans should contemplate the possible arrival of community searchers and how to manage such volunteers. Internal search plans should explain best search practices for non-police searchers with particular emphasis on, among other things, evidence preservation.
    8. Global search plans: The working group should also ensure that each internal search plan dovetails into a larger global search plan that should be implemented by all participant institutions in the event that a student goes missing:
      1. Global search plans should adopt pre-determined points of contact within each institution that are consistent with the internal search plans discussed above.
      2. Global search plans should include at least one Appendix that will contain a handout listing the best practices for community to community searchers discussed above. This document can be disseminated to community searchers as needed.
    9. Missing person risk factors: The working group should share expertise on risk factors that may need to be considered when assessing the risk level in a missing person matter that involves a student. The working group should create a list of risk factors that should be considered by all parties. The revised risk factors should be shared among participants and, once agreed upon by all, imported into the forthcoming TBPS 2016 missing person procedure as well as all internal search plans
    10. The working group should also review the revised TBPS missing person questionnaire that arises under the 2016 missing person policy and should consider what revisions, if any, should be made based on: (i) the expertise obtained by education authorities arising out of their own search efforts and (ii) information contained in search forms prepared by other police services that may be available by way of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, including but not limited to, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
    11. Training: The working group should fix deadlines for completion of staff training on all issues as follows:
      1. parties other than the TBPS should ensure that all staff are fully trained on revised procedures within 1-year from the completion of the working group deliverables, and
      2. TBPS will ensure that all of its members are trained on the forthcoming revised 2016 missing person policy by December 31, 2016
    12. The working group should prepare an anonymized training case scenario based on evidence canvassed at, and lessons learned from, the joint inquest. The case scenario should be used to assist in training TBPS officers, education authority staff and NAPS officers to participate in investigations relating to students which may involve:
      1. civilian search teams
      2. alcohol or substance use
      3. reports made to police after the whereabouts of the subject individual have been unknown for a lengthy period of time
      4. interviews involving young people who may be reluctant to speak to police officers fearing that they may get in trouble or may be betraying the confidence of their friends
      5. cultural and systemic barriers that may limit the fulsome disclosure of information to persons in positions of authority
    13. The working group should identify an appropriate external consultant to be hired to assist the TBPS (and any other interested organizations) to revise current training modules to ensure that curriculum covers cultural issues that are relevant to members of the Indigenous community in and around Thunder Bay and:
      1. TBPS will also present an annual report on training to the Police Services Board to provide the public with information on police training. This report will be made during the public session and will include, among other things, a summary of the number of officers who completed training courses in different policing areas and will include information about training curriculum related to Indigenous issues.

To: Ontario

  1. Establish a working group to review issues relating to ground searches for missing persons and missing persons investigations and to make recommendations to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) regarding (i) provincial standards relating to missing persons searches and investigations; (ii) training of police officers involved in missing persons searches and investigations; and (iii) any other issue that the working group considers appropriate for a recommendation. The membership of this working group should include representatives of MCSCS, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, the Ontario Police College, the OPP Police Academy, at least one municipal police service, and at least one First Nations organization.