First Nations student deaths inquest examines death of Reggie Bushie

Superior Morning7:07Student Deaths Inquest - Reggie Bushie

The tragedy that prompted one of the largest inquests in Ontario's history is in the spotlight in Thunder Bay today. We'll hear what it was about Reggie Bushie's disappearance that started the push for the inquest currently underway

The mother of Reggie Bushie, whose death started the long road to the First Nation student death inquest in Thunder Bay, Ont. is scheduled to testify on Monday.

Bushie was a 15-year-old student at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations high school in Thunder Bay. He went missing on Oct. 26, 2007. His body was found in the McIntyre River nearly a week later, on Nov.1. 

The inquest began in October and will run through until March and is examining the deaths of seven First Nations students from remote First Nations who died while at school in Thunder Bay.

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Bushie's mother, Rhoda King, helped push for aboriginal representation on the jury for the inquest into her son's death. At the time, Ontario had no mechanism for ensuring First Nations people on reserve were called for jury duty.

The solution of allowing First Nations people to volunteer to be inquest jurors took years to achieve. There is one volunteer juror among the five at this inquest.

King's testimony is scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m. on Monday.

Watch live streaming video from the First Nation student deaths inquest here.

Follow @cbcreporter on Twitter as she tweets from the inquest.