Saskatchewan鈥檚 justice minister has rejected calls for a new investigation into the death of a First Nations woman who fell 10 storeys inside a hotel鈥檚 laundry chute. The rejection comes despite an admission by police that mistakes were made, and an inquest jury鈥檚 finding last week that the young mother鈥檚 death could not yet be explained.
The request for a new investigation was made by Delores Stevenson, whose niece Nadine Machiskinic, 29, was found unresponsive in the chute at Regina鈥檚 Delta Hotel in January 2015. Machiskinic later died in hospital, leaving behind four children.
Stevenson made the request after an inquest鈥檚 jury ruled last week that the cause of Machiskinic鈥檚 death -- originally ruled an accident -- could not be determined based on the evidence available.
Police say that they were not immediately notified by paramedics about the death, which resulted in a 60-hour delay to the start of the investigation. But the problems didn鈥檛 end there. Potential evidence was lost, toxicology reports were delayed and two men caught on security camera footage were not named as persons of interest until a year after the death. Police never located the men.
A lawyer representing Machiskinic鈥檚 family alleges that racial discrimination was a factor in what he calls a 鈥渂otched鈥� police investigation.
Tony Merchant told CTV Regina that he believes 鈥渋f that had been a white woman working at (provincial utility) SaskPower, they would have been all over the investigation.鈥�
鈥淭hey would have concluded it was probably a murder,鈥� he added. 鈥淭hey would have known who the two men were. They would have got the tapes. They would have been talking to the staff.鈥�
Police Chief Evan Bray told CTV Regina that 鈥渕istakes were made, delays happened in two or three different instances, but it wasn鈥檛 because of the person, it was because of some process pieces on our end.鈥�
Stevenson, Machiskinic's aunt, wrote to Saskatchewan Minister of Justice Gord Wyant, asking for a new investigation after the inquest, which made a single recommendation: that hotel laundry chutes be kept locked.
Wyant said Monday that it would be inappropriate for him direct the police to open a new investigation and that the Public Complaints Commission is the most appropriate body to deal with such a request.
Stevenson said last week that the investigation uncovered 鈥渁 lot of truth鈥� but that it also 鈥渞aise(d) more questions about my niece and how she died.鈥�
鈥淚 think that every person in Canada deserves a fair and just investigation with dignity,鈥� Stevenson added. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like Nadine was given that investigation.鈥�
With reports from CTV Regina, CTV's Jill Macyshon and files from The Canadian Press
