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The search for Deborah Anishinabie in a municipal landfill is the first such operation in the Thunder Bay police’s decades-long history, Police Chief Darcy Fleury says.David Jackson/The Globe and Mail
Police in Thunder Bay have begun searching for human remains at a municipal landfill as part of an investigation into the 2024 death of a First Nations woman – an endeavour that advocates say marks a turning point for authorities across the country.
The landfill search for Deborah Anishinabie is the first such operation in the force’s decades-long history, Thunder Bay Police Chief Darcy Fleury told The Globe and Mail. His police service in the Northwestern Ontario city has been consulting with officials in Manitoba, who were recently successful in their own landfill searches for the victims of a serial killer who targeted First Nations women.
Chief Fleury said he recognizes the importance of the work and the case’s connection to the continuing national crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
“It’s not about the political, it’s not about the service,” he said. “When we talk about the necessity for investigations and collecting evidence, that also comes down to the dignity for the victims as well.”
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Ms. Anishinabie, 42, from Sandy Lake First Nation, was killed in Thunder Bay last year. She worked in the health care sector and was pursuing higher education.Supplied
Local authorities have sought the help of Ontario Provincial Police and First Nations detachments from the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service to conduct the new search. The operation, which started last week at the Thunder Bay Solid Waste and Recycling Facility, involves up to around 20 officers on site per day, with two full-time managers and other rotating staff.
Ms. Anishinabie, who belonged to Sandy Lake First Nation, went missing last December at the age of 42. She had been living in Thunder Bay to work in the health care sector and pursue higher education.
Her family, with whom she maintained near-daily contact, distributed missing-person posters after her disappearance and arranged vigils in the city while spreading the word on social media.
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But a couple of weeks later, police confirmed her death. They located some of her remains a few blocks away from where she was last seen, and came to believe more remains had been transported to the landfill. A suspect was arrested that month.
Levi Michael Lawson, 25, has been charged with second-degree murder and indignity to a human body. He is awaiting a trial date, and his next hearing is scheduled for late November.
Cora McGuire-Cyrette, chief executive officer of the Ontario Native Women’s Association, described the case as emblematic of essential changes in a city with a large proportion of Indigenous residents, many of whom it has “routinely failed.”
Several reports – including one from Murray Sinclair, the late senator and chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – have documented systemic racism within the city’s police force. “Those historical flaws are what prevented such efforts on previous cases,” Ms. McGuire-Cyrette said in an interview, referring to what she called the lack of action in searching for missing or murdered women.
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The operation at the Thunder Bay Solid Waste and Recycling Facility involves up to around 20 officers on site every day, with two full-time managers and other rotating staff.David Jackson/The Globe and Mail
She said Thunder Bay police are conscious of eruptions of controversy in other jurisdictions, such as Manitoba, where police initially refused to search for victims’ remains. “And they’ve thankfully thought better here.”
In 2022, Winnipeg police had conducted a landfill search to find some of the remains of one of the victims of the serial killer, who was sentenced last year for the murders of four First Nations women. But the police service declined to search for the man’s other three victims, two of whose remains were at another landfill – causing a national uproar.
Whether or not to conduct a search became the leading issue of Manitoba’s 2023 provincial election. The province’s Conservative premier ran ads arguing against the search, but Wab Kinew, whose New Democrats eventually won, said it was the humane thing to do.
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Mr. Kinew then initiated a new search. Two of those operations – conducted by the province and federal authorities without local police involvement – found the victims’ remains earlier this year. The Manitoba government also immediately committed to a third search in March, when the only previously unnamed victim of the killer was finally identified.
Winnipeg police and Manitoba’s Conservative leaders have since apologized.
“The case in Winnipeg has set a precedent for all of police,” Ms. McGuire-Cyrette said.
“It has shown each of us what is necessary to do and what can be done, but also what not to do as your first response when the normalization of violence against our stolen sisters is at stake.”
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Darcy Fleury, who became Chief of Thunder Bay Police Service in 2023, says the landfill search will last at least six to eight weeks.David Jackson/The Canadian Press
Chief Fleury, who took the helm of Thunder Bay police in 2023, said he understands previous criticisms. “It’s well documented that there were some highlighted cases that were problematic,” he said.
But the force has worked toward reconciliation for a while, he said, and Ms. Anishinabie’s case is able to “really put a shine” on those efforts. “The cultural pieces, the ceremonies, working with the elders, having that understanding and being aware – that’s really the emphasis: our work as a community.”
Investigators have identified a specific section of the 307.6-hectare landfill where the remains were likely to have been deposited, he added.
Chief Fleury anticipates that the search will last at least six to eight weeks.
He said additional funding for the search from the Ontario or federal governments has not yet been needed.
Ms. Anishinabie’s family and friends declined interviews. A family statement provided by the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents 49 First Nations in Northern Ontario, memorialized her compassion and devotion.
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“Deborah will always be remembered for her radiant, bubbly spirit and the warmth she carried,” her family wrote. “Her determination, strength, and kindness inspired not only her classmates but also everyone fortunate enough to cross her path.”
Overwhelmed with grief, Ms. Anishinabie’s father died in January, and her mother died in July, said Alvin Fiddler, Nishnawbe Aski Nation’s Grand Chief.
She is survived by her 15-year-old daughter, for whom “she was doing everything she could to create a good life,” Mr. Fiddler told The Globe.
“We’re happy to see that police are actually doing their job here,” he added. “My hope is that by collecting evidence thoroughly, in this way, there can be a fair trial to provide justice for all of Deborah’s loved ones.”
With research from Stephanie Chambers
