Father of 14-year-old First Nations girl found dead in Kenora calls for inquest

The father of Azraya Kokopenace wants an inquest into her death, saying there are too many unanswered questions about why his daughter, with a history of suicidal behaviour, was left alone in Kenora, Ont.

The 14-year-old from Grassy Narrows First Nation disappeared on April 15 after provincial police dropped her off at the hospital in Kenora, Ont. Police will not say why they picked her up.

Kokopenace was last seen leaving the Lake of the Woods District Hospital at 11:20 that night, according to police. She was found dead two days later in the woods nearby. 

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"I want an inquest because we don't know the whole circumstances — where she was, why wasn't she supervised," Azraya's father Marlin Kokopenace told CBC News in an exclusive interview. 

"I just want to know the whole story," Kokopenace said.

His daughter was living with her family until recently when she was put in the temporary care of a First Nations child welfare agency in Kenora, he said.

"The plan was to try to get her into treatment," Kokopenace said.

A news release from the family said "Azraya was known to be suicidal following the death of her older brother, Calvin, who suffered from mercury poisoning and died at 17 in 2014 from health complications.

Kokopenace said he also wants to know why no one called the family when Azraya disappeared.

"I don't know why police didn't get a hold of us as soon as she went missing," he said.

It was midday the following day when provincial police flagged him down on the highway en route to Thunder Bay, hours from home, and told him to call the Kenora detachment to receive the news about Azraya, Kokopenace said.

"It's pretty devastating," he said three weeks after his daughter was found dead. "We're still grieving."