Indigenous people 'invisible' to police family claims

Indigenous people ‘invisible’ to police: While his family looked for him, Darius Smallboy’s body was unidentified at a city morgue for two weeks.

Darius Smallboy’s family has recently learned that he was laying dead in a city morgue the entire time after spending the previous two weeks plastering downtown Vancouver with missing person posters.

Indigenous people ‘invisible’ to police, family claims after the death of a missing Vancouver man

The family of Smallboy is now speaking out about what they claim was a callous response from the Vancouver Police Department and an unacceptably long wait to identify his remains.

His aunt Jamie Small-boy told CBC, “He was a nice kid and it just feels like he didn’t matter to the VPD.”

“Unfortunately, it is how things are for Indigenous people. To them, we are invisible. We are in no manner a priority.”
On November 3, 23-year-old Darius Smallboy was last seen leaving his apartment complex near Fraser Street and Broadway.

The family learned on Thursday that on November 4, a bystander in the Downtown Eastside had discovered Smallboy nearly dead. Despite the family’s efforts to raise awareness of the case, it has taken thus long to identify the body even though he passed away that day.

The B.C. Coroners Office acknowledged that Smallboy’s death is being looked into, but the representative said he was unable to share any other details while the matter is still pending.

‘He never took off like that’: aunt

Darius’s father, according to Jamie Smallboy, tried to contact the police on November 5 after not hearing from his son for more than a day.

“He wasn’t usually like this. Never did he take off like that. He and his father never ceased exchanging messages, “explained Jamie Smallboy.

However, she claimed that initially, the police told her to wait a few days before taking the missing person report. On November 7, after Darius had been deceased for three days, a report was formally made.

The coroners’ office is the primary agency in the matter, according to a written statement from the Vancouver Police Department, and a criminal investigation into Darius Smallboy’s death is not ongoing.

Indigenous people 'invisible' to police — Indigenous people ‘invisible’ to police

“Since he went missing, our Missing Persons Unit has been aggressively looking for him. Front-line VPD officers received notifications when his name and information were placed into a national police database “The sentence is made.

We worked with the family and employed a variety of investigation strategies, including checking into any phones or bank accounts he may have had, a family member said.

The family’s assertions that an attempt was made to submit a missing person report on November 5 were not addressed by the statement.

Jamie Smallboy claimed that while her family was out looking for the missing guy, they frequently stopped by VPD officers to confirm that they were aware of Darius’ disappearance and to inquire about any developments in the case.

She recalled that they would respond, “OK, we’ll keep an eye out for him and we’ll transmit it to the following shift.”

She claims that when the following shift of officers arrived, they were unaware of her missing nephew.

Jamie Smallboy stated, “It came to the point where we just like, why even bother asking them.”

She claimed that other cops disregarded her worries and assumed what had occurred.

With a few exceptions, the majority of them inquire, “Are you certain he’s gone? Are you certain he isn’t having a binge? He’s probably just using; perhaps he doesn’t want to return home “She spoke.

Jamie Smallboy claimed that although Darius had a history of chronic pain and was dependent on medicines, he wasn’t known to go on binges or abscond.

She stated, “The VPD needs to be more understanding and truly listen and not just paint everyone with the same brush and be like, “Oh well, they’re junkies.”