Innu chief Réal McKenzie painted the dark portrait of “sick youth” in his community, where Raphaël “Napa” André came from, this itinerant whose body was found in a chemical toilet in the middle of winter during one of the -fires of the pandemic.
This is how the hearings at the public inquiry into this tragic death which occurred in January 2021 restarted on Tuesday.
The day was to begin with the testimony of the mother of the deceased, but this was postponed since the plane which was to bring him from Schefferville suffered a breakdown. The testimony of the Chief of the Matimekush-Lac John Innu Nation Council was therefore anticipated.
Obviously very emotional, the elected official’s voice broke as soon as he arrived at the microphone. Réal McKenzie first recalled the racism experienced by the Innu of Shefferville from the arrival of white people in the region, following the first iron deposits, in the 1940s. A reality inseparable from the social difficulties experienced even today by some of his own, he argued.
Describing his role as leader as that of a “doctor, a psychologist, a priest”, depending on the situation, Réal McKenzie then spoke of the consumption problems experienced by many young people in his community.
“Youth is sick. And that’s my responsibility. I can’t save everyone, I’m not the good Lord, but they will get through this,” he maintained.
In covert words, Réal McKenzie also criticized the way in which Raphaël André’s situation was handled, a few hours before his death. The man found himself on the street after having had to leave the shelter where he was, the La Porte Ouverte center. It had to close at 9 p.m. due to rules imposed during the pandemic.
“Could one more person have been saved if we had forgotten the rules, if he had been able to lie on the ground? », wondered out loud, Réal McKenzie.
At the end of his testimony, his counterpart at the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit, Jean-Charles Piétacho, spoke via a Teams broadcast to thank him on behalf of the other Innu leaders.
“It came for me not nearly. We cannot leave people outside to die of cold,” commented Réal McKenzie at the end of the hearing.
A “nonsense”
In his turn at the microphone, the Dr Stanley Vollant, also of Innu origin, raised the “nonsense” represented by the death of Raphaël André, while the members of his community lived outside, without technology, at much lower temperatures for centuries.
“We always survived because we lived in a community. Unfortunately, the Westernization of our values, to act in a more individual way, is not the right thing,” he declared, digressing by his own admission from the testimony he had to deliver.
“Housing itself is a factor,” he continued, recalling that Raphaël “Napa” André had left his community like several others because he could not find a roof over his head.
A situation which is not unique to Matimekush-Lac John as the birth rate of the First Nations is three to four times higher than that of the Canadian population, underlined the Dr Flying.
“People will move to the city in the hope of finding a better situation and that is rarely the case. It is very difficult for a native to find accommodation there. This is one of the factors that contribute to homelessness [autochtone] in Montreal,” he explained.