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Regina Police release RCMP review of Nadine Machiskinic death investigation

Mar 28, 2019 | 6:34 PM

REGINA — The Regina Police Service has released an RCMP report into how it investigated the death of an Indigenous woman who fell 10 storeys down a laundry chute.

Nadine Machiskinic, who was 29, was found in medical distress in the laundry room of Regina’s Delta Hotel in January 2015 and later died of her injuries.

In November, Regina chief Evan Bray said the report would not be released to the public, which upset her family.

The redacted RCMP report makes 14 recommendations on how to improve how police deal with similar cases.  

It says the investigation into Machiskinic’s sudden death does not meet the standards of a professional sudden death investigation due to the lack of an effective case management system.

In a news release Thursday, Bray says a new case management system will be in place by this fall.

Bray says Machiskinic’s case was thoroughly investigated and the evidence does not point to someone being criminally responsible for her death.

An inquest heard it was more than 60 hours before police were called about the death and more than a year before they issued a public appeal for information about two men shown on surveillance video with someone who appeared to be Machiskinic.

Officers also took four months to send for a toxicology report.

The coroner initially ruled the cause of Machiskinic’s death could not be determined, but later changed it to accidental.

A jury at a coroner’s inquest last year changed the ruling back to undetermined.

 

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. Previous version said she was found dead.