First Nations student deaths inquest: Testimony from Robyn Harper's mother
The coroner's inquest into the deaths of seven First Nations students, who died after leaving their home communities in northwestern Ontario to attend school in Thunder Bay, resumed Tuesday.
- In Depth: First Nations student deaths inquest
- First Nations student deaths inquest; 5 questions it may answer
- First Nations student deaths inquest: 'Help us' mom pleads
Jurors heard testimony from Tina Harper, the mother of Robyn Harper. The 18-year-old had only been in Thunder Bay for a few days when she died in 2007.
Harper is one of two teenagers from Keewaywin First Nation to die while attending school in Thunder Bay, and the only female student among the group being examined at the inquest.
Jurors have already toured Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School in Thunder Bay. Six of the seven young people were students there when they died.
The inquest will examine each of the seven deaths individually until the new year.
Recommendations from the inquest are expected in March 2016.
Here is a look at the some of the proceedings from the CBC reporter in the courtroom.
Back at the First Nations student death inquest in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> today. Mother of Robyn Harper, who died at 18 in 2007, to testify this am <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterInquest was scheduled to start at 9 am, problems with the court audio system causing a delay <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper, mother of Robin Harper, will give testimony through an Ojibway interpreter, Temius Nate <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterRobyn was a quiet, artistic child 'she just wanted to stay home with her dad', her mother Tina says in mix of English and Oji-Cree <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterLike Paul Panacheese, Robyn Harper went to Northern Eagle First Nations high school in Ear Falls before coming to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a>.
—@cbcreporter'I didn't want her to come here,' Tina Harper says of Robyn's decision to come to grade 11 in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says she had heard First Nations students were not well supervised in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says she told Robyn to 'behave, not consume alcohol, focus on education' in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporter'I just want to come home,' Robyn called her mom to say two days after arriving in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a>, Tina Harper says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporter'She called every night. She was homesick I just wanted her to come home,' Tina Harper says of Robyn, 18, away at school in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says no officials talked to her about options for her daughter's schooling or about what life might be like in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says she didn't get a call from her daughter the night that she died. She says her pastor called the next morning. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says the chief told her Robyn 'choked on her puke, that's all he said' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says no one in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> met with her or talked to her about how Robyn died. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says she first learned about the details of her daughter Robyn's death, years later when the inquest was called <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says she herself left Sandy Lake to come to high school in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a>, but went home b/c of her dad's safety concerns <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTranslator Temius Nate strokes Tina Harper's arm through the difficult testimony about Robyn's death. Nate knew Robyn as a child <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says Robyn told her dad, who used a wheelchair,' when I come home I'm going to take care of you.' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterOn why Pelican Falls First Nations school in Sioux Lookout is better than Dennis Franklin Cromarty in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a>, Harper says: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a> 1/2
—@cbcreporter'I see other students that go to Pelican - they come home. Robyn didn't' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says no police, coroner, only <a href="https://twitter.com/gcfiddler">@gcfiddler</a> and NAN staff have ever talked to her about what happened to Robyn <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterCoroner Dr. Eden asking Tina Harper about the residence she stayed in when she came to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> for high school as a teen. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterTina Harper says she liked living with about 10 other First Nation students b/c 'I felt not alone' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterChris Kakegamic, education director from Keewaywin First Nation at time of Robyn's death, current chief now taking the stand <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporter'There is no option. If you want an education, high school or post-secondary, you have to leave the community,' Kakegamic says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporter'We do have internet high school, but funding is always a challenge,' Kakegamic says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterKakegamic:'Our students are getting younger and younger. Grade 8, we know them as children, all of a sudden they're away from home.' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterSome years grade 8 students travel 100s of km to visit the high schools they might attend. But not always $ for field trips, Kakegamic says
—@cbcreporterChief and council are promoting Internet high school for grade 9, 'because they are too young to go out,' Kakegamic says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterKakegamic: Our community has been impacted by 2 of our students coming out for high school and not coming back <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterCoroner Dr. Eden: 2 in a community of 300, if I do the math that's equivalent of ~ 700 students dying from a city the size of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporter'That's the reality of us Native people up north. We have all that challenge,' says Chris Kakegamic, chief of Keewaywin.
—@cbcreporterKakegamic says there is only one $$ pot for First Nations students. Nominal roll must pay for tuition, travel, all support services <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterFor First Nation student living on reserve, attending a provincial high school is equivalent of a private school $ arrangement <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterKakegamic says he'll never forget the racism he experienced in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> as a student while attending Lakehead University <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterKakegamic recalls sitting in a crowded lecture hall where no one would sit beside him. 'How would you feel as a brown person?' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterInquest resumes after lunch. Keewaywin Chief Chris Kakegamic remains on stand. Among many careers, he taught at Hillcrest in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterKakegamic also chair of board of Northern Nishnawbe Education Council, which runs the First Nations high schools in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> and Slkt <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterKakegamic says a residence with a 'father and mother figure' on site in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> would help keep students safe <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterJuror asks Kakegamic if grade 8 students who go on field trip to see high school in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> fare better. Kakegamic says yes
—@cbcreporterSame juror asking about how to improve attendance at Internet high school. 'That's tricky...' Kakegsmic says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterKakegamic says important to talk about challenges faced at elementary schools on reserve, b/c it's the foundation for all education <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterCoroner Dr. Eden praises jurors question about improving attendance, says it would be valuable to ask other witnesses as well <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterCoroner Dr. Eden asks if provincial legislation enforcing school attendance are apply on reserve 1/3 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporter'May or may not apply but it's not enforced,' Chief Kalegamic says 2/3 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterNot like before when 'my dad was threatened if I didn't go to school assistance would be cut off,' Kakegamic says 3/3 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterDr. Eden offers condolences and 'commitment to do whatever we do to prevent this from happening to other families' in Keewaywin <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterKatie Anishinabie now on the stand. Her friend and relative Robyn Harper was 18 when she died in 2007. They went to school together <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterAnishinabie says she chose Dennis Frankin in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> ahead of Pelican Falls in Sioux Lookout b/c Pelican is 'too in the bush' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterAnishinabie breaks down crying on the stand as she remembers how she encouraged Robyn Harper to come to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> too <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterAnishinabie says Robyn was a 'happy, jolly' girl and had started being her regular 'friendly self' after the 1st week at school in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a>
—@cbcreporterAnishinabie says Robyn had problems with her new cell phone on the Friday she died. She didn't show up to meet her after school <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterAnishinabie says the freedom of being in the city allowed her to experiment with alcohol when 'nobody was around to say something' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterStudents would ask 'random people' at the mall or the bus depot to buy alcohol for them, Anishinabie says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterAnishinabie says friends = family and are safer when they stick together in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> 'especially with close friends you grow up with' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterRobyn Harper wasn't much of a drinker and 'didn't drink the hard stuff,' her friend Katie Anishinabie says
—@cbcreporterFirst Nations students meet up at the mall because boarding homes often don't allow visitors, Anishinabie says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterAnishinabie: I don't think students should use alcohol to make friends. I think that's what happened to Robyn <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterJuror asks Anishinabie whether alcohol is allowed in Keewaywin First Nation and how it is kept out. Keewaywin is a 'dry' community <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterJuror asks Anishinabie whether alcohol is allowed in Keewaywin First Nation and how it is kept out. Keewaywin is a 'dry' community <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterAlma Hastings on the stand now. She was dispatcher for school vans that tour city to look for First Nations students out past curfew <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterHastings was dispatcher on night Robyn died, took the call to pick Robyn up. Says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> police never asked her for incident report <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterHastings also drives a van looking for students, says she has 'found a lot by the river, if we can't wake them up, we call 911' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterHastings says she has seen police be 'rough' with intoxicated students, saw 1 student's face smashed into door of police car <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterJury excused while lawyers discuss whether Hastings can be questioned about statement she made to police about gangs in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporter'What I'm hearing from you is that you have technical concerns about quality of the police investigation,' Coroner Dr. Eden says. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterLawyer Chantelle Bryson responds no, her concern is about unlimited evidence on students' drug use, but limits put on ?s re: gangs <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterJurors return, lawyer Chantelle Bryson resumes questioning of Alma Hastings. Hastings says she had 'a bunch' of training for work <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterHastings recalls call from Robyn Harper's boarding home parent the a.m. she died, says she said Robyn was 'just fine when I checked' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterHastings recalls call from Robyn Harper's boarding home parent the a.m. she died, says she said Robyn was 'just fine when I checked' <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterLawyer for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tbay?src=hash">#tbay</a> police now questioning Hastings, asks 'if police are dealing with students it's b/c you needed them?' Yes, she says <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporterNo more questions for Hastings from lawyer for police service.
—@cbcreporterInquest is adjourned for the day. I'll have details on today's testimony on <a href="https://twitter.com/UpNorthCBC">@UpNorthCBC</a> at 5:10 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbctb?src=hash">#cbctb</a>
—@cbcreporter