First Nations leaders are demanding a full investigation into the death of acclaimed artist Moses Amik Beaver who was found unresponsive in a Thunder Bay jail cell this week.

“The sudden and unexplained death of Moses Beaver was devastating to his family and everyone in Nibinamik,” Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation said in a statement on Thursday.

The tragedy of Beaver’s death was compounded as, three days after his death, his sister, Mary Wabasse, 58, was killed in a car crash in Thunder Bay, while travelling to join other grieving family members, Fiddler said.

“For Moses to die under these circumstances is troubling on so many levels, especially as his death has not been officially acknowledged by those responsible for his care,” Fiddler said. “We are doing everything possible to support Chief and Council and the family of Moses Beaver, and we will demand an investigation into the circumstances around his passing.”

The circumstances surrounding Beaver’s death is still being investigated, said Andrew Morrison, a spokesperson for the ministry of correctional services.

“A male inmate was found unresponsive in his cell at Thunder Bay Jail Monday night. Paramedics were called and the inmate was pronounced deceased at hospital. It would be inappropriate for the ministry to further comment publicly as the matter is under investigation. Should the Coroner’s death investigation determine that the inmate’s death was anything other than natural causes, a mandatory inquest will be held,” Morrison said in a statement.

Beaver’s former partner, Melanie Huddart-Amik, broke down several times as she described the loving father and companion that he was.

“He brought so much to all of our lives, and for him to be gone in the manner in which he is gone is very, very difficult to all of us.”

Huddart-Amik said that one of the main reasons why she and Beaver had a child together was because he “is the most amazing father.”

Their son Kiiwetin is 6, and Beaver also has three other children.

“He’s done his best to be there for his children and give them the best opportunity in life while facing his own challenges and his own demons,” Huddart-Amik said of Beaver.

“I wanted better for him,” she said.

While they kept in touch regularly so their son could see Moses as often as possible, it had been about a year since she last saw him.

Huddart-Amik said she will not let Beaver’s death be for nothing.

“I owe it to my son and I owe it to him (Beaver) to try to bring to light the cause of all these horrific events,” she said. “I want to make this more than it being just about a dead, drunken Indian.”

The chief of the tiny northwestern Ontario community where Beaver and Wabasse lived told the Star that Beaver had struggled with depression issues.

“Our dear friend Moses Beaver had struggled for many years with mental health issues but we do not understand why he was in custody or the circumstances that led to his death,” Chief Johnny Yellowhead of the Nibinamik (Summer Beaver) First Nation said in a prepared statement.

“It is clear that Moses needed professional help and a psychiatric assessment, and we demand to know why this didn’t happen,” Yellowhead said.

Fiddler also questioned the actions of the Ontario Provincial Police, who issued a traffic citation to a family member involved in the accident in front of the grieving family at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre just minutes after Wabasse was pronounced dead.

“We do not fully understand the circumstances around this accident or question the duty of police to investigate, but issuing a citation to a grieving family member in front of a room full of family immediately after the death of a loved one is unacceptably callous and offensive,” Fiddler said, adding he was with the family at the time.

The SUV driver, who had to be removed from the vehicle with the jaws of life, has been charged with driving to the left of the centre line, according to an OPP news release.

Funeral arrangements for Beaver and Wabasse have not been made.

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A post mortem was planned for Beaver in Toronto on Thursday.

Five others in the SUV in which Wabasse was riding received non-life threatening injuries in the collision with a transport truck, Ontario Provincial Police said Thursday.

Growing up in the Canadian bush, traveling with his family by dog sled, Moses Beaver paints the stories of his youth. Now, he travels through the north helping young native artists get a start.

Wabasse was a longtime Tikinagan child protection worker from the Nibinamik First Nation (Summer Beaver).

The SUV’s other occupants were all taken to hospital, the OPP said.

The driver of the transport was not injured, OPP said.

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The Thunder Bay jail where Beaver died is the same facility where Adam Capay was held in solitary confinement for more than four years before public outcry moved provincial authorities to better his conditions.

Beaver travelled widely teaching art and First Nations traditions.

In an interview with Indian Country TV in the U.S., he said that First Nations people often suffer from low self esteem, which he tried to remedy with traditional teachings.

Much of his teaching came through art, but he was also adept at techniques for survival in the bush, such as how to winterize a teepee and how to make a canoe from a tarp.

He said he wanted to encourage others to express themselves through art.

“I don’t tell them what to do,” he said. “I just give them the tools … I’m actually just there to be a guide as an artist.”

With files from Hina Alam