podcast Ryan McMahon Has no interest in leading the conversation around funding and eliminating the police.
However, they are aware that these calls have been increasingly common in Black, Indigenous and racialized communities across North America since the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.
Instead, the Anishinaabe author uses her latest documentary, “Thunder Bay,” to examine a North American movement that supports the redistribution of funds from police departments to community and social services by putting the embattled city under the microscope. Is.
“Thunder Bay” is a four-part investigative series that aims to shed light on the history of racism in the city and how police inaction may have played a role in the deaths of Indigenous people over the years.
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The series is presented as a deep look at the country’s complex relationship with colonialism, examining the consequences of a broken system in which some may thrive but many others struggle to survive.
“Colonization is one hell of a drug. And, it has repeatedly failed specific groups of people,” McMahon said in a recent phone interview from Toronto.
“Through the four episodes of ‘Thunder Bay’ it is crystal clear that these particular[institutions]— the police service, the city and the public safety system within the city of Thunder Bay — are simply not working.”
The series is produced and developed by McMahon and Entertainment One in association with Crave for Bell Media. McMahon also wrote and co-directed the series.
It follows McMahon’s work on Canadaland’s podcast of the same name, released in 2018, where he exposed the unexplained deaths of Indigenous youth and systemic racism in the city.
The project left McMahon with more questions than answers, so when Entertainment One expressed interest in developing a television series, he agreed. The team originally had plans to bring the project to various broadcasters and streamers, but after meeting with Crave felt it was a good fit.
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McMahon said that Crewe understood how important the story was and trusted the crew to tell the story they wanted to tell.
“Thunder Bay, in part, has earned its reputation. There are problems. People in power turning a blind eye to those problems hasn’t helped,” McMahon said.
“We went in with an ambitious plan, and we have come away with something that positively contributes to furthering the call for change within the city.”
The first episode of the series focuses on the death of Barbara Kentner in 2017. Kentner, an Anishinaabe woman of the Wabigoon Lake Ojibwe Nation, died six months after Braden Bushby, a non-Indigenous man from Thunder Bay, threw a trailer hitch over her. a moving car.
The case made national headlines and contributed to division in the community as the defense argued during the trial that Kentner’s pre-existing conditions related to liver disease may have contributed to his death.
“If a young white man admits to killing an Indigenous woman and that young man is not punished, what message does that send to Indigenous women in this country?” McMahon said. “So the stakes were very high for that reason alone.”
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Bushby admitted to throwing the trailer hitch and was eventually sentenced to eight years in prison for the murder.
The second episode focuses on some of the stories behind the mysterious deaths of seven First Nations youth whose bodies were found in a nearby waterway. Families criticized the police for failing to act on or address concerns when they submitted missing persons reports. An inquiry was completed in 2016 and resulted in 145 recommendations.
McMahon uses interviews with local journalists to reference some of the city’s long-standing issues.
Thunder Bay made headlines not only for the high number of deaths and attacks on indigenous people, but also for the police’s alleged ambivalent attitude when investigating these cases.
The Thunder Bay Police Service has also attracted attention for its internal problems, including the suspension and recent resignation of Police Chief Sylvie Hauth following allegations of misconduct.
An officer recently found guilty of investigating the 2015 death of Stacey Debangi with bias was demoted and ordered to take cultural competency training.
“We’ve almost become notorious in a way,” said Willow Fiedler, reporter for the Globe and Mail in Thunder Bay.
“It’s not a matter of what happened in the past. These are all issues that continue to a large extent today.”
Fiedler was one of the reporters interviewed for the series. She has covered the field for seven years and frequently reports on police service issues.
“Any media attention to these issues is still viewed by the city and the police as negative, and not worthy of being seen or noticed,” she said.
McMahon said, Thunder Bay Police did not sit for the series.
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Scott Paradis, Thunder Bay Police media relations co-ordinator, told The Canadian Press that some of the topics McMahon wanted to talk about are still under investigation. The service would not comment on the series ahead of its release.
Fiedler hopes the series will bring awareness to issues of racism against Indigenous people, not only in Thunder Bay but across the country.
As for McMahon, after talking to the many families who have been calling for change, in some cases for decades, he hopes the conversation about the efficacy of the systems in place to protect the spectator community continues. Will keep
“Are they working? Who are they working for? ‘Thunder Bay’ is a conversation about Canada (and) North America.
The first two episodes are available now on Crave and the last two episodes will be available on February 24.
