Rachelle Younglai, CBC News Online
Nov. 29, 1990
Neil Stonechild, 17, is found frozen to death in a remote field on the outskirts of Saskatoon. He is partially clothed and wearing one shoe. His family believes his death is the result of police foul play. His mother Stella Bignell, questions how her son ended up in that area of Saskatoon wearing only one shoe on a -28C night.
1991
Saskatoon police conclude Stonechild died trying to walk from a convenience store to the correctional centre where he was going to surrender himself. Stonechild was wanted for escaping his youth group home where he was serving a sentence for breaking and entering.
Jan. 19, 2000
Lloyd Dustyhorn, 53, is found frozen to death in Saskatoon. He had been taken into police custody the night before for public intoxication.
Jan. 28, 2000
Darrell Night, says police officers picked him up on this morning for no reason, drove him to the outskirts of Saskatoon, and left him there. Weather conditions were well below -22 C and he was only wearing a jean jacket and summer shoes.
Jan. 29, 2000
Rodney Naistus, 25, is found frozen to death without a shirt. He is in the same area Night was the day before, in the southwest industrial area of Saskatoon near the Queen Elizabeth power station.
Feb. 3, 2000
Lawrence Wegner, 30, last seen alive banging on a relative's door Jan. 30 in Saskatoon, is found frozen to death wearing only a T-shirt, jeans and socks. He is found in the same southwest industrial area.
Feb. 4, 2000
Night comes forward and alleges that police officers kicked him out of a police cruiser near the power station on a frigid night. He says he was only wearing a jean jacket and summer shoes. Saskatoon police Chief Dave Scott orders an investigation.
Feb. 10, 2000
Veteran police officers Dan Hatchen and Ken Munson are suspended with pay after they admit to picking up Night and driving him to the outskirts of town.
Feb. 16, 2000
Scott asks the province to appoint RCMP investigators. Saskatchewan Justice Department calls on RCMP to take over the investigation.
Feb. 21, 2000
Saskatchewan's Justice Minister Chris Axworthy refuses to call an inquiry into the general relations between the aboriginal community and the justice system saying the province needs to wait until the RCMP completes its criminal investigation into the deaths of Wegner and Naistus, and the alleged police abuse of Night.
Feb. 22, 2000
RCMP decide not to reopen the Neil Stonechild investigation saying they're too busy. At the same time, the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan and the Metis National Council call for an independent judicial inquiry into the provincial justice system.
March 10, 2000
Hatchen and Munson are now suspended without pay upsetting both police officers and aboriginals. Police officers say the duo should be paid until they are tried by the court of law and aboriginals say the two should be fired.
March 20, 2000
RCMP task force completes an investigation into Darrell Night's allegations.
March 21, 2000
Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations hires a private investigator to look into allegations of police brutality against aboriginals.
March 24, 2000
RCMP task force receives 25 complaints about officers. Three of the complaints involve abandonment.
April 10, 2000
Hatchen and Munson are charged with unlawful confinement and assault.
April 2001
Stonechild's body is exhumed.
May 8-10, 2001
The inquest into Lloyd Dustyhorn's death is held. The jury concludes that his death was accidental and caused by hypothermia. It recommends establishing an emergency detoxification centre where non-violent intoxicated individuals could be taken instead of jail.
Sept. 10, 2001
An all-white jury, seven men and five women, is picked to try Hatchen and Munson.
Sept. 20, 2001
Hatchen and Munson are found guilty of unlawful confinement. They are still appealing the conviction.
Oct. 30-Nov. 2, 2001
The inquest into the death of Rodney Naistus is held. The jury concludes that Naistus died of hypothermia but fails to determine the circumstances leading to his death. Recommendations are all related to police policies, and police and aboriginal relations.
Oct. 30, 2001
Lawyers for Hatchen and Munson request a native sentencing circle, much to the dismay of the aboriginal community.
Jan.-Feb., 2002
The inquest into the death of Lawrence Wegner is held. The jury concludes Wegner died of hypothermia but fails to determine the circumstances leading to his death.
Feb. 20, 2003
Saskatchewan's justice minister, Eric Cline, calls an inquiry into the death of Neil Stonechild.
Inquiry wants answers to 1990 death of native teen in Saskatchewan
Last Updated Thu, 20 Feb 2003 21:43:07
REGINA - Saskatchewan Justice Minister Eric Cline says there will finally be a "public airing" of how Neil Stonechild died.
On Thursday, Cline announced an inquiry will look into the death of the Cree teen who was found frozen in a field more than a dozen years ago.
Neil Stonechild
An RCMP task force reopened the Stonechild case three years ago after two other aboriginal men were found frozen to death on the outskirts of Saskatoon.
"The government has appointed the honourable Mr. Justice David Wright of the Court of Queen's Bench Saskatoon to conduct an inquiry into the death of Neil Stonechild," announced Cline.
The minister says there are questions that need to be answered. "We know that Mr. Stonechild had contact with the police quite close to the time of his passing," he said.
A friend says he saw Stonechild in the back of a police cruiser, his face bleeding and yelling "They're going to kill me," the night the 17-year-old disappeared.
The largest RCMP investigation in Saskatchewan history questioned two Saskatoon police officers who may have been involved in Stonechild's death.
But the justice minister says there's not enough evidence to lay charges.
Now it's up to a judge to look into what happened to Stonechild.
Saskatoon police Chief Russ Sabo says his force will co-operate with the investigation. "Being the subject of an investigation is not new to us, we face this on a daily basis and we have to be held to the highest standards possible. This is just one of those things that is holding us to those standards and we'll see what the outcome is."
Stonechild's family hopes the inquiry will finally get to the bottom of how the teen died.
But their lawyer, Donald Worme, wonders why it took so long, why it took two more aboriginal men found frozen to death on the outskirts of Saskatoon, and why no one listened to Stonechild's mother, Stella Bignell, when she asked questions about her son's death more than a decade ago.
"Stella has been ... relentless in her quest to find out, as any mother would be rightly so, that they would want to know what happened to their child to have died under such tragic and suspicious circumstances," he said.
The family isn't alone in their hopes for this inquest. "If there's anything that we can do to bring closure, including charging those people who are responsible, police or otherwise, I think we can start the healing process," said Lawrence Joseph of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Lead from Pat Paul with thanks!
Earlier Reports on Neil Stonechild: