First Nations student deaths inquest adjourns until Feb. 22

The testimony of several witnesses is being delayed at the First Nations student deaths inquest in Thunder Bay, Ont., after three of the five jurors reported feeling unwell this week.

Proceedings were halted early on Monday, then again on Wednesday and finally cancelled altogether on Thursday when different jurors reported they were sick, according to the coroner's counsel. The inquest is scheduled to resume on Feb. 22.

It is examiningthe deaths of sevenstudents from remote First Nations who died while attending high school in Thunder Bay. One student died from an unknown medical condition, another was found dead on the floor of her boarding home.

The bodies of five students all teenaged boyswere found in rivers that flow through the city. Their deaths remain unexplained.

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Since the inquest began in October, jurors have heard details about each of the seven individual deaths. This month testimony moved on to explore the social context of their lives.

So far they've heard from a treaty expert,an academic who specializes in intergenerational trauma,school officials and a nurse at the First Nations high school, who says students suffer from PTSD.

The delays mean that testimony from a student support services coordinator, a child welfare agency, a youth program director and current students, andothers, will need to be cancelled or rescheduled.

Coroner's counsel says meetings are underway to determine how to recoup the lost time.

The final two weeks of testimony are already tightly scheduled. Witnesses include government officials who are expected to explain the funding discrepancies between provincially and federally funded schools.

Children's rights advocate Cindy Blackstock isscheduled to testify in March. She recently won her case before theCanadian Human Rights Tribunal. It ruled thatthe federal government discriminates against First Nations children on reserves in the provision of child welfare services.

In April, the jury at the inquest is expected to deliver recommendations for keeping First Nations students safe in Thunder Bay.