Ontario First Nation leaders call for disbandment of Thunder Bay police [Video]

First Nation leaders have renewed calls to dissolve the Thunder Bay police service as the former chief of the northern Ontario force faces criminal charges in a widening misconduct probe.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation, several chiefs of northern Ontario First Nations and several families with loved ones who died in the city said Monday that Thunder Bay police can no longer conduct credible investigations.

They said they would like the Ontario Provincial Police to take over for Thunder Bay police.

“Our people are dying. My daughter’s gone, we’ll not have her back,” Vincent Ostberg said of his daughter, Jenna, both from Bearskin Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario.

She died on Dec. 30, 2023 in Thunder Bay at the age of 21. The Special Investigations Unit, the province’s police watchdog, said there were three 911 calls for service from a Thunder Bay home. By the time police arrived after that third call, officers found Jenna Ostberg dead.

Vincent Ostberg and two …