Tommy Agnetsiak’s family is criticizing what it says is a failure by the Ottawa Police Service to find him before he was discovered dead in the Ottawa River on April 6. Tommy is seen here with his father Robert in an undated photo taken in Ottawa. (Photo courtesy of Christine Agnetsiak)
‘Nobody took it seriously’: Family of missing Inuk man says Ottawa police failed them
Tommy Agnetsiak had been missing for months and Ottawa police ‘didn’t do any searches, they didn’t do anything,’ family member says
The family of an Inuk man who went missing in Ottawa but was found dead last week in Gatineau, Que. is criticizing the Ottawa Police Service for what they say were failures in searching for him.
Tommy Agnetsiak, 30, originally from Pond Inlet, was reported missing in Ottawa in February, his father Robert Agnetsiak told Nunatsiaq News.
On April 6 at around 11 a.m., police in Gatineau, Que., across the Ottawa River from the nation’s capital, received a call from someone who reported seeing a body on the Quebec side of the river, the department’s spokesperson Officer Patrick Kenney said in an email.
Gatineau police found a body that “appeared to have been in the water for some time,” he said.
The body was sent to a coroner in Montreal to determine the cause of death.
Christine Agnetsiak, Tommy Agnetsiak’s cousin, said police told her foul play has been ruled out and it was most likely an overdose.
Robert Agnetsiak learned of his son’s death from his ex-spouse, who came to the restaurant in Pond Inlet where he was working to break the news.
“I was so angry and mad,” Robert said in a phone interview from his home in Pond Inlet.
When he learned police had found his son’s body, he wanted to cry, but said he wouldn’t allow himself to because there were too many people in the restaurant.
“He was missing for a long time and nobody ever saw him ever since. Nobody took it seriously,” Robert Agnetsiak said.
Tommy Agnetsiak, originally from Pond Inlet, had lived in Ottawa since 2009. It was the place he called home, according to his father Robert Agnetsiak. (Photo courtesy of Christine Agnetsiak)
Tragedy has hit the family hard in the last few years. Earlier this year, his daughter overdosed while lying on a couch in an Ottawa apartment and another daughter took her own life a couple of years ago. Tommy was Robert Agnetsiak’s last living child.
Robert said he wants what happened to Tommy to be a warning. Indigenous people are being killed, overdosing, and there needs to be a change.
Tommy’s cousin Christine echoed that sentiment. “We are tired of losing people we love. We have been losing so many people in our family,” she said.
Robert Agnetsiak said his son was in and out of trouble most of his life.
When he moved to Ottawa in 2009, he volunteered with Tungasuvvingat Inuit and was employed. By 2019, however, just after the last time Robert saw him, Tommy was evicted and ended up on the streets or in homeless shelters. Things spiralled from there.
According to Christine, as the weeks passed after Tommy went missing, police never contacted her or her family about progress.
“It just felt like something we were doing alone. Like we were fighting for something that is being ignored,” she said.
Tommy had options, she said. He could have gotten housing, been sent home or been given treatment.
“Any help he could have had, I’m sure he would have accepted it and things would be different now. He could have had a bright future, he could have children, he could find someone to love. Live like we are living now, but he can’t. He’s gone now. It feels so unfair,” Christine said.
“They should have searched for him the same night he went missing.”
Christine said she believes race was a factor in what she says was the neglect to search for Tommy.
If he was white, they would have taken it more seriously, she said.
After Tommy went missing, she shared information about his disappearance on social media with little response.
On April 6, an Ottawa-based Instagram account reposted an Ottawa newspaper article about the discovery of Tommy’s body. While some comments were sympathetic, others were racist, she said.
Ottawa Police Service was given an opportunity to respond to the family’s concerns about how it treated Tommy’s missing person’s case but declined an interview.
A member of the police department’s missing persons unit said in an email Monday the Ottawa Police Service could not comment in order to not interfere with the investigation by the Gatineau Police, who discovered the body.
Racist? No. Troubled yes. Many young people are experiencing trauma that steers them to drugs and alcohol. But to blame someone else for a parents failure to protect their own children then after the fact re villainise that is wrong! Very wrong.
Ottawa police is a cowardly organization.
It’s little surprise that a police service whose members believe and openly discuss while working, that the white man’s day is done, didn’t really care about another statistic find in the river…
People from NU, people from anywhere to be exact, are not adept to living on the streets of a city like Ottawa. Families do not allow this to happen to your sons, daughters, and brother and sisters. Going there for medical and not being able to make your flight(s) home is poor life judgement. Thinking you can live in a city with very little employability, work ethic, and no budgeting skills for essential things like such as paying rent or hydro bills is downright disastrous. That forgivable NU Housing authority that doesn’t collect rent or care about that $60 you owe and will come to fix up your broken windows – well, this does not exist in a city like Ottawa. People have got to be more prepared for this world and families have got to be more invested in the well-being of their loved ones. Moving to Ottawa or going to Ottawa for medical (even as an escort) is the beginning of a tragic end for most.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of parents who lack the skills to pass on to their children because they didn’t have parents who could pass along those skills themselves, because of residential schools, because of federal day schools, because of TB sanitoriums.
Battling inherited addictions, possible undiagnosed/untreated mental illness, being born into poverty, lack of education, dealing with intergenerational trauma – those are just a few things to think about while also trying to be a person, a parents, and a productive member of society is difficult, especially when you live in a community with little to no resources, or those resources are only available in a language you are not comfortable with.
It might sound like excuses, but that’s the reality.
Possibly, but there is also more than a bit of stereotyping in this comment. Being Inuk does not automatically equate with anything that you said, and to assume that they do without knowing the individual’s circumstances does his memory a disservice.
He’s Inuk, far from home, that’s way…It’s all one sided; CH Mayor critical of GN Minister of Health taken off web is just few days. Why is GN pulling strings? Put back the Coral Harbour mayor’s comments” Given Tylenol and send home”… Minister; can’t you take criticism anymore????
He was an Ontarian who had lived in Ottawa for 15 years. He was not ‘far from home’ – he was in his home of choice.
Another , sad sad story !!!
Same story , with inuks from nunavik on their medical/escort tripS to montreal.
It is unfortunate to see that cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people continue to remain unsolved. It’s not possible to force someone to go home or send them to a treatment center if they don’t want to. If that were the case, everyone would be safe at home and free of addiction. However, the reality is that addiction is a persistent problem. My heart goes out to all the families who have lost a loved one.
Addiction and substance abuse have torn and brought grief to so many families.
In this case though, there seem to be more questions to be asked about the conduct of deceased’s family and friends more than that of the Ottawa police.
Absolutely heartbreaking amd tragic. Heartfelt remorse to Robert who lost all three of his children to substance abuse and suicides. No parent should have to bury their own child, let alone all three of them.
These big cities are unforgiving places. They can truly eat the vulnerable alive. Another tragic ending that would have never happened had he just stayed in Pond Inlet. RIP.
Its a laughing matter to some until tragedy hits home and its one of your own children who was found floating in the river or along side of the river bank. Coming from a small village to live in a large city such as Ottawa is scary. I as a Inuk once lived in Ottawa. I was brutally mugged and hospitalized in the Ottawa Hospital. Some of us Inuit are so trustworthy that having that trust from a small community to start trusting in a large city is completely different. I have lost brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles by alcoholism, drug addiction and suicide and this allowed me to become hardened emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Once I became sober, I had to change my entire thinking process and to change my behavior. If you decide you want to conquer a city l;ike Ottawa, may I suggest that one has to abstain from alcohol and drugs to better your chances in living in these big cities. Condolences to the Father.
The Ottawa Police Association is and always will be a racist government agency. A large percentage of the Ottawa Police are from Nunavik Police Service who did their 6 month probationary period in a Nunavik community. Here these cadets than live and learn how the Inuit live their lives and once they are stationed at a Nunavik community, they bring their racist attitudes with them when they find new employment in cities like Montreal or Ottawa. So sad that these officers turn their backs on the Inuit.
Naglingnaq💖
I met Tommy a few times. Always smiling. Always friendly. R.I.P.✌️🤘💖