{"id":105291,"date":"2026-06-01T08:54:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=105291"},"modified":"2026-06-01T08:54:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:54:29","slug":"indigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/indigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigenous families call for permanent search team in Thunder Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet Indigenous searchers are calling for the creation of a permanent search and rescue team in Thunder Bay, where the bodies of four missing persons have been found \u00a0over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, Thunder Bay\u2019s police chief and the region\u2019s First Nations leaders traded barbs on social media, amid criticism of the force\u2019s actions during the search. Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and Thunder Bay Police Service chief Darcy Fleury exchanged critical social media posts on Wednesday and Thursday. Fiddler accused the police of instructing searchers not to look in a set of abandoned grain elevators. Searchers found the bodies of 25-year-old Nodin Skunk and 23-year-old Ashlynn Bottle from Mishkeegogamang First Nation in those elevators three days later. Fiddler said&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F01%2Findigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet Indigenous searchers are calling for the creation of a permanent search and rescue team in Thunder Bay, where the bodies of four missing persons have been found \u00a0over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, Thunder Bay\u2019s police chief and the region\u2019s First Nations leaders traded barbs on social media, amid criticism of the force\u2019s actions during the search. Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and Thunder Bay Police Service chief Darcy Fleury exchanged critical social media posts on Wednesday and Thursday. Fiddler accused the police of instructing searchers not to look in a set of abandoned grain elevators. Searchers found the bodies of 25-year-old Nodin Skunk and 23-year-old Ashlynn Bottle from Mishkeegogamang First Nation in those elevators three days later. Fiddler said... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F01%2Findigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Indigenous families call for permanent search team in Thunder Bay - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/indigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Indigenous families call for permanent search team in Thunder Bay - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jon Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Ricochet Indigenous searchers are calling for the creation of a permanent search and rescue team in Thunder Bay, where the bodies of four missing persons have been found \u00a0over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, Thunder Bay\u2019s police chief and the region\u2019s First Nations leaders traded barbs on social media, amid criticism of the force\u2019s actions during the search. Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and Thunder Bay Police Service chief Darcy Fleury exchanged critical social media posts on Wednesday and Thursday. Fiddler accused the police of instructing searchers not to look in a set of abandoned grain elevators. Searchers found the bodies of 25-year-old Nodin Skunk and 23-year-old Ashlynn Bottle from Mishkeegogamang First Nation in those elevators three days later. Fiddler said\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/indigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-01T12:54:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/01\\\/indigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/01\\\/indigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Indigenous families call for permanent search team in Thunder Bay\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T12:54:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/01\\\/indigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1360,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/01\\\/indigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/01\\\/indigenous-families-call-for-permanent-search-team-in-thunder-bay\\\/\",\"name\":\"Indigenous families call for permanent search team in Thunder Bay - 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