Stonechild report slams police investigation

The final report of a provincial inquiry into the death of Neil Stonechild describes the original investigation by Saskatoon police as "superficial and totally inadequate."

The 17-year-old was found frozen to death in a field on the outskirts of Saskatoon in November 1990.

The police investigation was brief it concluded the aboriginal teenager died while trying to walk to an adult jail to turn himself in for being at large from a youth home. Police claimed they had no contact with Stonechild the night he disappeared.

But in his report released Tuesday, Justice David Wright concludes there is evidence Stonechild was in police custody the night he was last seen alive, and that marks on his body were likely caused by handcuffs.

• READ THE REPORT: Commission of Inquiry into Matters Relating to the Death of Neil Stonechild

The case was largely forgotten by many for a decade until two aboriginal men were found frozen to death in a field on the outskirts of Saskatoon within one week in 2000. A third man survived and told a tale of being driven to the field by Saskatoon police officers and being left to find his way back to the city.

Saskatchewan's justice minister asked the RCMP to reopen the investigation into Stonechild's death, but that investigation concluded there was not enough evidence to lay charges.

However, accusations that he was abandoned by police sparked the provincial inquiry into the teenager's death, as well as how the subsequent investigation was handled.

At the inquiry, two Saskatoon police officers denied even seeing Stonechild the night he disappeared. But Stonechild's friend, Jason Roy, testified he saw Stonechild in the back of a police cruiser the night he disappeared. Roy said Stonechild was terrified, bleeding and pleading for his life.

• TIMELINE: Neil Stonechild

Wright's report concludes that two Saskatoon police officers Constables Larry Hartwig and Brad Senger did respond to a call involving Stonechild the night he was last seen alive, encountered him, and took him into custody.

Wright also chastises the officer in charge of the initial investigation Sergeant Keith Jarvis for dismissing important information about the case, such as Roy's report that he saw Stonechild in the back of police cruiser the night he disappeared.

The report makes eight recommendations, such as the need for more aboriginal police officers and more cross cultural training for non-aboriginal officers. It also says the province has to come up with a better way of dealing with public complaints about police.

The $2 million inquiry heard from 43 witnesses over 64 days of hearings. Hearings wrapped up last May.