Ministry stands firm on denying funding for families of police shooting victims
By Jacques GallantStaff Reporter
Fri., Aug. 19, 2016timer5 min. read
updateArticle was updated Aug. 18, 2016
The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services is doubling down on its decision not to provide funding for legal representation at coroner's inquests to families of police shooting victims.
Meanwhile, a Toronto MP has written to the federal justice minister, suggesting the creation of a national program that would support the legal rights of these individuals at inquests.
This comes as at least four coroner's inquests probing police shooting deaths are set to take place soon in the GTA, including that of Andrew Loku in Toronto.
"This is urgent. It can't just sit on the backburner," said former Metro Toronto councillor Bev Salmon, who wrote to Premier Kathleen Wynne in the spring urging the government for funding.
"There are too many inquests coming up, and these families need to know where they stand. They can't be worrying about whether they can afford a lawyer or not. The police are covered (for legal expenses), so you need a balance."
Salmon said her letter to Wynne was referred to Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi.
She recently received a response from Deputy Minister Matthew Torigian, stating that the Coroner's Inquest Legal Fee Reimbursement Program assists parents and spouses of individuals whose deaths have been deemed to be the result of a criminal act.
As critics have pointed out, the near totality of police shootings in Ontario do not lead to criminal charges against the officers, and so families likely wouldn't qualify for legal representation funding at an inquest. (A ministry spokesman repeated to the Star what Torigian told Salmon.)
Salmon is a friend of Heather Thompson, whose son, Ian Pryce, was killed by Toronto police. At the inquest into his death earlier this year, Salmon said she was struck by the sheer number of lawyers representing the individual officers, the chief and the police services board. Thompson was represented pro bono by lawyer Peter Rosenthal.
"That would not have worked," Thompson said of the idea of having to represent herself. "Already being emotionally hurt and having to go through all that information, to see the gory details, it would have been double the pain. Knowing how to ask the right questions, when the police have all those lawyers, and keep it together at the same time, is an impossible task."
Salmon now plans to send a letter about the issue to every MPP and Toronto city councillor.
Her concerns are shared by Jackie Baker, whose 20-year-old son, Beau, was killed in 2015 in Kitchener after reportedly advancing on police with a knife. She learned last week that the coroner's office, after reconsidering a decision not to hold an inquest into his death, had ordered a probe.
"The police have top paid legal representation, so for a citizen to just walk in and expect to know the law, to interview witnesses, it's impossible," said Baker, who said she can't afford a lawyer because she lives on a fixed income, including disability benefits.
"It's a pretty hopeless feeling, but I don't plan on giving up. I'm writing some letters, hoping that someone in government comes forward to make the necessary changes."
Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, does not release its full reports to the public, and names the officer only if charges are laid. The vast majority of Ontario police forces also keep secret their internal reviews of shootings.
Inquests are often the only avenue for families of people killed by police to learn more about what happened to their loved one, including the name of the officer responsible for the death.
As the police are often given publicly funded counsel, it's imperative that families of police shooting victims receive the same in order to make it a level playing field, said Ndija Anderson, policy and research lawyer at the African Canadian Legal Clinic.
"Many times, the victims of these shootings are coming from vulnerable communities whose families may not have the legal savvy or the know-how to properly define their interests, so it's important to have legal representation so that their interests are being taken care of," she said.
"It's imperative to have adequate legal representation, so that not only the families' voices can be heard, but so that the African-Canadian community, as a whole, can be heard in these instances where the police have caused fatalities in our community."
At the federal level, Toronto MP Adam Vaughan, following correspondence with Salmon, wrote to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to highlight the lack of funding for legal representation.
He wrote of how a significant number of police-involved fatalities in Toronto over the last few years have involved members of the African-Canadian community. He suggested that a program to support the legal rights of the victims' families at inquests could ensure they are not shut out of the process.
"Even when the families are granted status, often they cannot afford the lawyer fees that accumulate during the lengthy inquest that may follow," Vaughan wrote.
"Leaders in the community would like to have the government fund victims' families to make sure that their legal issues are represented and that their evidence is presented."
A spokeswoman for Wilson-Raybould said the minister will be reviewing Vaughan's letter but that the conduct of coroner's inquests is a provincial responsibility.
Upcoming cases:
Andrew Loku: The 45-year-old father, originally from South Sudan, was shot and killed inside his Toronto apartment building hallway in July 2015 after reportedly advancing on police with a hammer. The SIU declined to lay criminal charges. The date of the coroner's inquest into his death has yet to be set.
Eric Osawe: The 26-year-old father of two was shot after police and an armed tactical unit entered an Etobicoke apartment with a search warrant in September 2010. Osawe was killed and his younger brother arrested on weapons charges. Const. David Cavanagh was charged with manslaughter — later upgraded to second-degree murder — but the charges were thrown out by a judge due to lack of evidence of wrongdoing. That decision was upheld on two appeals. The inquest into Osawe's death begins in September.
John Caleb Ross: The 21-year-old summoned police after making a fake 911 call in 2014 that a mother and her daughter had been shot. York Regional Police arrived on scene in Aurora to find Ross brandishing a pellet gun. He was shot and died of his injuries in hospital. The SIU declined to lay charges. The inquest into his death begins in October.
Beau Baker: The 20-year-old Kitchener man had been living with mental health issues when he reportedly advanced on police with a knife outside his Kitchener apartment building. He was fired on seven times. The SIU declined to lay charges. A date has yet to be set for the inquest into his death.