The family of Tootsie Jimmy-Charlie received an apology Friday from the Yukon RCMP regarding the handling of her death 55 years ago.

Chief Supt. Scott Sheppard stood before a room full of Jimmy-Charlie’s relatives and friends gathered at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre to hear the formal apology.

The body of Jimmy-Charlie was found at the Whitehorse dump in May 1967.

In a statement from the family released last week ahead of the apology, the family describes the RCMP actions as negligent and racist.

“The coroner’s report, dated May 1967, included several statements that demonstrate negligence in the investigation, as well as abject prejudice towards Indigenous peoples, including an egregious section that deemed the discovery of Tootsie’s remains as ‘uneventful’,” says the statement.

“Her daughter, Darlene Jimmy asks, ‘how can a body being found in a dump ever be considered ‘uneventful’ or a ‘misadventure’?

“To this day, the dump in Whitehorse remains far from everything. Their report makes it sound like she just walked there herself and died on a pile of garbage. No one does that. No one.”

The family’s statement says that in 1967, Canada did not substantially recognize Indigenous people’s legal rights, including the right to access legal representation.

That allowed “the RCMP to conduct an inadequate investigation that culminated in a racist coroner’s report and the RCMP’s failure to pursue the investigation further.” says the statement.

It was back in 2017 during the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls that the case of Jimmy-Charlie was revived by a family member wanting to know more about her death.

“This needs to end,” Ann Maje Raider said in the family’s statement.

“Governments and institutions cannot disregard the systemic racism and misogyny that continues to allow Indigenous women, girls, and gender diverse people to be murdered and go missing with no proper investigations, supports, or closure for their families.”

The RCMP have re-opened the investigation into Jimmy-Charlie’s death, as well as 11 other cases as a result of the inquiry.

The chief superintendent said the investigation into Jimmy-Charlie’s death will remain open.

The police would be particularly interested in speaking with anyone who may have known her whereabouts in the days prior to her body being found, Sheppard said.

The family is demanding the racism embedded in the report be removed and the formal apology acknowledge how it contributed to the harm and grief the 
family experienced.

The family also notes the investigating officer is still alive, and they’d like an opportunity to speak with him.

They are also aware that the investigating officer kept a journal after he retired, and Jimmy-Charlie’s case is mentioned in the journal.

Sheppard said while the journal was written after the officer’s retirement, the police are in possession of a portion of it, including the section that speaks about Jimmy-Charlie.

The police, said Sheppard, will do what they can to provide the family with access to the portion of the journal that speaks about the case.

One member of the large gathering for the apology mentioned the 1960s were not a good time for the relationship between First Nations people and the RCMP.

Friday’s apology will help mend that fence, so that people can begin feeling comfortable dealing with the RCMP.

Sheppard said it was difficult for him to address those gathered for the apology, but said it was even more difficult for those who were present.

“I have seen the impact a tragedy such as this can have on a family many times over,” said the chief superintendent.

“But as terrible as it is to lose a family member, it is far worse not knowing what happened.

“It was our job to complete a thorough investigation, and that was not done. In so doing, we dishonoured the memory of Ms. Jimmy-Charlie and failed her family.

“For that and for all of the pain and hardships you experienced in the years that followed, I stand here today and offer my sincere apology,” he said.

“Your experience was not up to the standards of our policies and procedures today, and we were not the police service you needed and deserved.

“On behalf of the RCMP of that time and the RCMP today, I am so very sorry.”

See full text of apology in Letters section.