First Nations leader calls Thunder Bay, Ont., jail 'deplorable'

A First Nations leader in northern Ontario is raising the alarm about conditions in the Thunder Bay district jail.

A guard was taken hostage at the facility in December, and several inmates were also injured in the incident.

Alvin Fiddler, the grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, toured the facility earlier this week because he wanted to see first hand some of the concerns he'd been hearing from First Nations people locked up there.

"It's not a happy place. None of us want our relatives to be there," he said.

First Nations people make up the majority of those in custody in Thunder Bay and are going without essential services, like daily access to showers, he said.

"I would describe it as deplorable, the conditions there and I think just the current state of how it's being operated is a concern," said Fiddler.

First Nations inmates are also being denied access to traditional spiritual ceremonies, he said.

"I think the corrections system needs to do more to ensure they [inmates] have access to our culture, our ceremonies and to ensure there are facilities for them to have access to elders," said Fiddler.

Fiddler would not comment on the labour dispute between correctional workers and the Ontario government.

Thousands of guards could walk off the job this weekend.