Canada police 'cover-up' on death

By Ian Gunn
BBC News, Vancouver

Canadian police were involved in the death of an aboriginal teenager in 1990 but tried to cover up the evidence, an independent inquiry has found.

The family of Neil Stonechild claim he froze to death on the outskirts of Saskatoon after he was abandoned there in freezing conditions by two officers.

The police denied any involvement but the inquiry concluded the 17-year-old had been in their custody that night.

Investigators highlighted a "chasm" between native people and the police.

Saskatoon's police chief has apologised in the hours since the report was released, admitting his force let Mr Stonechild's family down.

When the teenager's frozen body was found near the Saskatchewan town in 1990, a police investigation concluded his death was a self-inflicted accident.

Racial divisions

It dismissed persistent rumours that police sometimes drove natives to the edge of the town and abandoned them there.

The public inquiry said the original police investigation was both superficial and totally inadequate.

It concluded there was no doubt Mr Stonechild had been in police custody on the night he died - and that members of the Saskatoon force had deliberately tried to hide evidence of that.

The report also describes a "chasm" between aboriginal people and the police.

Bitter racial divisions are fuelled by troubling levels of distrust and misunderstanding between the two groups, it said.

One of the officers at the centre of the case has continued to claim his innocence.

The provincial minister has also admitted it is unlikely the police officers involved in the case will ever be charged.

He said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to take action.