General

To: Canada (Health Canada)

  1. To help alleviate homesickness for students, KO Telehealth should develop a program to allow families to utilize their services to communicate with their children who are attending high school off-reserve. This program should commence for the 2016–2017 school year.

Social media and internet resource development

To: The City of Thunder Bay

  1. The City of Thunder Bay should advertise, promote and consult with students on the best way to notify students of opportunities for Youth, including employment, recreation and volunteering at the City of Thunder Bay, whether that is on the City’s website, other social media or another “youth friendly” format. This information should be provided at all schools in the local district.
  2. The City of Thunder Bay should explore options for promoting youth opportunities and programming to youth, by “speaking their language” and utilizing sources such as Twitter, Facebook, and other social media websites.

Recreation information and activities

To: Ontario

  1. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport should provide adequate funding to sustain the Regional Multicultural Youth Centre’s initiatives at DFCHS to keep students busy and safe after school, reduce risks and create a generation of active Aboriginal youths.

To: The City of Thunder Bay

  1. The City of Thunder Bay should consult and liaise with NNEC, DFCHS, KO and MLC in order to develop a plan for assisting those students who would like to attend City programs or have questions with respect to any City programs but may have some issue to overcome such as transportation issues to and from the venue.
  2. The City of Thunder Bay through the Aboriginal Liaison should liaise with DFCHS and MLC to provide copies of the community recreation guide "The Key" each session, and other promotional materials for City recreation opportunities on an ongoing basis, to be circulated in the schools including in libraries, guidance offices and recreation spaces.
  3. The City of Thunder Bay should promote the P.R.O. Kids program to stakeholders such as NAN, NNEC, DFCHS, KO and MLC to encourage subject students to participate if they are interested.
  4. The City should consult with and assess the needs of the community with respect to Youth and Youth programming through the efforts of the City of Thunder Bay Recreation & Facilities Master Plan "Stakeholder + Public Consultation Plan", whose goals include identifying:
    1. the community’s vision for the development of recreation
    2. the current demands for and gaps in recreation services and facilities as well as emerging needs
    3. the experience of Users by facility in terms of their level of satisfaction and barriers to recreation services such as transportation.

    The consultation process should include tapping into the voices of the city’s youth, including youth from the First Nations and Métis communities within and surrounding Thunder Bay.

  5. Once the goals of the Stakeholder + Public Consultation Plan have been achieved, and the needs with respect to Youth programming in the City are identified — including a consideration of the need for a youth centre or youth centres in Thunder Bay — the City should identify and pursue funding and other resources to meet those needs, including consultation with the Federal and Provincial governments to support programming and/or infrastructure development.

To: The City of Thunder Bay, NNEC, KO, DFCHS and MLC

  1. The City of Thunder Bay Aboriginal Liaison, NNEC, DFCHS, KO and MLC should work together — perhaps through designated contact people in the schools — to co-ordinate participation of DFCHS and MLC students in Thunder Bay recreation programs and City sponsored events that students may be interested in attending throughout the school year — for example, the use of skating rinks in the winter.

Transit training

To: The City of Thunder Bay

  1. The City of Thunder Bay should develop policy and procedures for dealing with incapacitated individuals, specifically youth 18 and under. These policies should also address the safety of youth who are denied or removed from transit service or who exit a transit vehicle while incapacitated. The City of Thunder Bay should provide training to its Operators and Controllers on these policies and procedures.

Indigenous youth employment

To: The City of Thunder Bay

  1. The City should develop and report on employment equity targets for Indigenous youth hired by the City, including both full time and part time employment.

City’s commitment to Indigenous peoples

To: The City of Thunder Bay

  1. The City should review its current “Welcome Thunder Bay” slogan and programming to consider ways in which to incorporate a better reflection of the Indigenous presence in the territory for millennia.
  2. The City should post its Declaration of Commitment dated March 29, 2010, in all of its buildings.

Community safety considerations

To: The City of Thunder Bay

  1. The City of Thunder Bay should encourage and support the combined efforts of the Anti-Racism and Respect Committee and the Thunder Bay Crime Prevention Council, and, in consultation with the Thunder Bay Police Services Board, DFCHS, NNEC, KO, MLC, and the Indigenous community of Thunder Bay, should develop a public education campaign identifying and discussing the issue of racially motivated crimes, specifically those involving the Indigenous communities residing in and around the City of Thunder Bay.

To: Ontario and the City of Thunder Bay

  1. Ontario and the City of Thunder Bay, in exercising its appointment power to the Thunder Bay Police Services Board (TBPSB), should take into account the need for an Indigenous representative to reflect the nature of the Indigenous peoples within the City of Thunder Bay which is served by the TBPSB.

To: Canada, Ontario, the City of Thunder Bay, NAN, NNEC, KO and MLC

  1. Consultations should occur between the City of Thunder Bay through the Thunder Bay Drug Strategy, the TBPSB, Health Canada, the Ministries of Health and Long-term Care and Child and Youth Services, the Northwest Local Health Integration Network (NWLHIN), EMS, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), NAN, NNEC, KO, Shibogama, Independent First Nations Alliance (IFNA) and MLC in order to develop of an alternative facility for intoxicated youth, including remote First Nation students who cannot return home until their intoxication level has subsided. Such an alternative facility could include a shelter or detox unit, open to youth who are 25 years or younger, with appropriately trained staff.

To: The City of Thunder Bay, TBPS, NNEC, KO, DFCHS and MLC

  1. The City of Thunder Bay, TBPS, NNEC, DFCHS, KO, IFNA, Shibogama and MLC should consult on the terms of reference for a safety audit of the river areas frequented by First Nation students and youth in the evenings. The consultation and resulting audit should be undertaken as soon as practicable. Subject to the findings of the audit, some possible responses to identified issues could include improved lighting, emergency button poles, under-bridge barricades, or increased police patrols.

Community leadership role

To: The City of Thunder Bay, NAN, DFCHS and MLC

  1. In order to increase public awareness in the City of Thunder Bay regarding the issues raised during this Inquest, including the obstacles and challenges faced by First Nations students from remote communities who are residing in Thunder Bay, the City should work with First Nations expertise to develop a local and social media campaign as well as a public forum which highlights and addresses:
    1. the obstacles and challenges faced by First Nations students in Thunder Bay
    2. the health and social issues often experienced by First Nations students in Thunder Bay
    3. the subject of this Inquest through a discussion of the various roles and responsibilities of community partners and members of the community in assisting First Nations students in Thunder Bay
    4. the current misconceptions relating to First Nations students from remote communities who are residing in Thunder Bay
    5. racism experienced by First Nations students in Thunder Bay
    6. facilitates discussion regarding how to address and report racism towards First Nations students in Thunder Bay

To: The City of Thunder Bay, NNEC, KO, DFCHS and MLC

  1. The City of Thunder Bay, NNEC, KO, DFCHS, and MLC should consult with community partners to arrange for speakers or skills instructors to attend the schools in order to make presentations on topics which are aimed to engage and provide information to the students.

To: The City of Thunder Bay

  1. The City should review the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which apply to municipal government, including Number 57, and consider appropriate future action.
  2. The City should review and consider the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Call for consultation and funding

To: Canada, Ontario and the City of Thunder Bay

  1. Canada and Ontario should meet with and consult with the City of Thunder Bay in order to discuss any funding requirements or additional resources necessary to assist the City in implementing and supporting the Recommendations aimed at supporting Indigenous youth travelling to the City in order to access a secondary education program.