No charges to be laid in 1977 deaths of 5 Indigenous people from Manawan, Que.

A Crown prosecutor has told family members who have been seeking justice for 40 years following the drowning deaths of five Indigenous people from Manawan, Que., that provincial police don't have enough evidence to lay charges.

YanVachon, whoshared the decisionwith the familiesThursday during their meeting at a hall inSaint-Michel-des-Saints,said there won't be charges despite recent police efforts to gather more information.

Provincial police decided to take a closer look at the case last year, after pressure from families and an association that works with relatives of people who are missing or murdered.

In 1977, the five, all from theAtikamekwcommunity ofManawan, drowned when a van skidded off the road intothe Milieu River, near Saint-Michel-des-Saints, a town about 170 kilometres north of Montreal.

• Drowning deaths of 5 aboriginal people inManawancome to light 39 years later

The five are:

• LionelPetiquay, 19.
• Marie-JulianaQuitich, 24.
• Marie-NicolePetiquay, 15.
• ThrseFlamand, 34.
• DenisPetiquay, 18.

Two non-Indigenousmenthe driver and his friendboth survived.

Local police declared the crash an accident, but a report obtained last year from the Quebecnational archivesrevealed the coroner believed a crime had taken place.

In a written statement included in the report, the driver admittedto drinking18 beersthe day leading up to the crash.

He also wrote that he did not feel that he was impaired.

The survivors said that an hour after the crash, they lit a fireand waited until sunrise before walking 19 kilometres to warn police in Saint-Michel-des-Saints.

But before they arrived, they stopped for a coffee.

Case reopened after pressure from families

Last year, six investigators were assigned to speak with witnesses and gather more information, before handing over any new evidence to prosecutors.

The move from provincial police came after pressure from families and advocates who argued the justice system had failed to thoroughly investigate the deaths.

• Investigators assigned to look into 1977 fatal crash that killed 5 aboriginal people

Nancy Roy, general director of theAssociation des familles de personnesassassines ou disparues, spoke to CBC before Thursday'smeeting.

"If it was the death of five white girls I don't think we would've had the same treatment by the justice system," she said.

"It's been two years that we've been working on this to get justice to help them turn the page."