The former deputy grand chief of the Innu Nation is calling for a criminal investigation into events leading up to his son’s suicide in 2017.

Simeon Tshakapesh says he’s been unable to get records or an explanation as to what happened to Thunderheart Tshakapesh at a treatment centre in Regina.

Simeon Tshakapesh is thankful the inquiry into Innu children in care has finally been established. But he’s worried it won’t get to the bottom of what happened to his son, Thunderheart, who committed suicide in 2017. The Tshakapeshs were atConfed. yesterday. @briancallahan67 pic.twitter.com/hSWos4QI3R

— Gerri Lynn Mackey (@GerriLynnMackey) June 29, 2021

He was 14 when his parents consented to treatment for addictions – first in central Newfoundland, and later in Saskatchewan. That’s where it’s alleged he was assaulted by staff.

Tshakapesh is demanding to know what happened, who was responsible, and why he and his wife weren’t notified.

He says he can’t fathom why social workers did not bother to let the family know that their unresponsive son was being rushed to the hospital.

Tshakapesh has shown VOCM News copies of messages sent to him by witnesses who described the incident, which left his son with a serious head injury.

He says that explains his unusual behavior when he returned home a year later, just weeks before he took his own life.

Ultimately he blames the province, saying removing troubled Indigenous youth from communities for treatment elsewhere only makes matters worse, and severs the connection with their communities and their people.