Fighting for an inquest
Though 61-year-old Gladys Tolley died on the night of October 5, 2001, her family has yet to see any justice in what they have described as “homicidal negligence” at the hands of the Sûreté du Québec.
Gladys Tolley had been walking along Highway 105, the road that runs through the Algonquin community of Kitigan Zibi, when, at approximately 11:30 pm, she was struck by a SQ vehicle that had been patrolling the community.
Though the accident occurred on the Kitigan Zibi reserve, which is the territory of the KZ police force, according to daughter Bridget Tolley, the KZ police were only called in as an “afterthought” as the SQ took over the scene and SQ protocols and procedures were carried out.
Since her mother’s death, Bridget Tolley has managed to uncover some rather disturbing discrepancies in the case to the extent that she is alleging a cover-up.
“We have the coroner’s report which shows that the coroner never even showed up. We have the collision analysis, which has been analyzed and shows that the coroner used the wrong formula to determine the speed of the police cruiser. We have the police statements and their inaccurate forensics. We have conflict of interest as the brother of the policeman who struck my mother was in charge of the scene. We also have jurisdictional issues and procedural issues,” explained Tolley.
Plus, Tolley has stated she saw the cruiser that struck her mother being taken away from the scene and sent for immediate maintenance instead of being marked as evidence.
The community of KZ is under a First Nation policing agreement which involves Canada’s Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg community and the Province of Quebec represented by the Ministère de la Sécurité publique. This tri-partie agreement gives the Kitigan Zibi police force jurisdiction over the territory where Gladys Tolley was struck. Because it is assumed that the SQ took control of the crime scene, it is believed that they broke protocol which the family believes warrants an investigation.
Tolley has also had numerous issues with the local police force as she said that they were unwilling to even explain the community’s policing agreement to her.
The previous Chief and Band Council, which was under Chief Jean-Guy Whiteduck at the time, were also of no help to Tolley in the matter. Though the Council is in charge of the police force, the former Chief told her that Gladys Tolley’s death was a family matter rather than a policing matter.
“We are requesting an independent public inquiry into the death of our mother and a complete independent investigation into the occurrences that happened that night as well as a public review of the conduct of the police officers and homicide team at the scene,” said Bridget Tolley.
The only problem is that it has been seven years since the fatal accident and she has already requested this from the province. But years after the request was made, she was turned down.
After being turned down by Quebec, Bridget Tolley went to the Assembly of First Nations for advice on her next step. They told her to write the Ministère de la Sécurité publique with another request but this time to have political figures back her up in the letter.
In recent months, Tolley has managed to get an impressive number of signatories. Those who have already signed include: Beverley Jacobs (President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada), Lucien Wabanonik (Grand Chief of the Algonquin Anishinabeg National Tribal Council), Ghislain Picard (Regional Chief for the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador), Ellen Gabriel (President of Quebec Native Women Inc), Dr. Gilbert Whiteduck (Chief of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg), Alex Neve (Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada) and Beatrice Vaugrante (Directrice Generale, Amnistie internationale, section canadienne francophone). Ironically, the only one missing is AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine.
Though Fontaine only has two weeks left in his term, Bridget Tolley is hopeful that he may sign the document as one of his last acts in his position. Having known Fontaine personally for decades as he is also the godfather of her own daughter, Bridget Tolley said that he has known about this case for five years.
If Fontaine does not sign, the Tolleys hope to get to the signature of the newly elected National Chief.
“I am not going to stop until something is done. We have to look at this, there is too much involved. There is also a jurisdiction issue where the KZ police had the jurisdiction to protect the body and the crime scene and they didn’t,” said Bridget Tolley.