Resident Dave Guilbeault said he arrived at Marina’s Park in Thunder Bay, Ontario, after learning of the death on Friday. He was paying respects with his daughter, who was best friends with the young woman who died.
“Pulling [up] to the scene I find Thunder Bay Police taking pictures with a Wedding Party in front of the Crime Scene and all [were] LAUGHING,” Guilbeault said on Facebook, along with photos and video of the bride’s photoshoot in a police car.
His images showed the cruiser positioned directly next to the taped-off crime scene that police were guarding.
“I feel sick of the Thunder Bay Police,” Guilbeault continued. “They showed no respect and the wedding party had no respect.”
He added that the dead woman was Indigenous. Newsweek reached out to Guilbeault for comment.
According to Thunder Bay Police spokesman Chris Adams, the bride had a connection to a retired police officer.
“This was an impromptu situation where the bride approached the officer and requested a photo be taken in the cruiser,” he told Newsweek in a statement.
“There was no intent to cause any indignity or disrespect to anyone based on where the officer was located. Public interactions with our officers who are parked or situated in settings which have a high number of pedestrians, such as a park, are quite common.”
Acting Chief Dan Taddeo had reminded officers that “while public interactions are encouraged, there may be times where these contacts can be viewed as being insensitive,” Adams said.
The Thunder Bay Police Service has been previously accused of systemic racism by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC). In March, Ontario’s Officer of the Chief Coroner detailed the police’s mishandling of investigations into the sudden deaths of nine Indigenous people, CTV News reported.
The report claimed the death investigations were “problematic” or “deficient,” showing a lack of oversight or follow-up with family members and witnesses. In some cases, evidence was never sent for forensic analysis. Several deaths should have been treated as suspicious, the coroner’s office said.
Amid these scandals, Thunder Bay Police Chief Sylvie Hauth was suspended in June due to “serious allegations” of misconduct brought by the OCPC.
In the United States, a report published by Wyoming’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Task Force exposed the disparity between news coverage of white and indigenous missing women. Over the last decade, 466 Indigenous women were reported missing in Wyoming, the same state where 22-year-old Gabby Petito’s disappearance whipped up a national media frenzy.
Meanwhile, New Mexico created a specialized investigative unit to help solve the cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people last year. The state has the highest reported number of missing or murdered Native Americans, despite having only the fifth-highest Indigenous population.
