By Canadian Press

Regina Police release RCMP review of Nadine Machiskinic death investigation

Mar 30, 2019 | 6:33 PM

REGINA — An RCMP report says the investigation by the Regina Police Service into the death of an Indigenous woman who fell 10 storeys down a laundry chute did not meet professional standards.

Nadine Machiskinic, who was 29, was found in medical distress in the laundry room of Regina’s Delta Hotel in 2015 and later died of her injuries.

In November, Regina chief Evan Bray said the report would not be released to the public, which upset her family.

On Thursday, Bray released the RCMP report, which makes 14 recommendations on how to improve how police deal with similar cases.

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The review says the investigation did not meet the standards of a professional sudden death investigation due to the lack of an effective case management system.

Bray says a new case management system will be in place by this fall.

“I remain confident that, despite the acknowledged delays in this case, it was thoroughly investigated,” Bray said in a release with the redacted report.

“Our investigation showed no evidence that someone was criminally responsible for the death of Ms. Nadine Machiskinic. None of the recommendations in this review would have changed the outcome of our investigation.”

An inquest heard it was more than 60 hours before police were called about the death and more than a year before they issued a public appeal for information about two men shown on surveillance video with someone who appeared to be Machiskinic.

Officers also took four months to send for a toxicology report.

The coroner initially ruled the cause of Machiskinic’s death could not be determined, but later changed it to accidental.

A jury at a coroner’s inquest last year changed the ruling back to undetermined.

That finding prompted Bray to ask the RCMP to review the Regina Police Service investigation in July of 2017.

— With files from CJME

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. Previous version said she was found dead.