Inquest judge finds legal counsel for dead inmate’s family after province denies funding

An inquest judge took it upon herself to secure legal representation for the family of a man who died in the Winnipeg Remand Centre when the province denied their funding request four days before hearings were to begin.

In the 157-page report released Thursday into the June 3, 2021 death of Darren Wood, 28, provincial court Judge Heather Pullan noted his sister Sophie, whose first language was Oji-Cree, “struggled with English literacy” and was without representation.

A lawyer who had provided months of free help withdrew his services after the justice department turned down the family’s request for funds to cover legal costs.

Pullan, who wrote that the Woods family was “riddled with the effects of colonization,” called the situation unacceptable.

“I felt I could not proceed with this inquest leaving the family unrepresented,” she said in the inquest report. “I reached out to community contacts to forge some sort of solution to resolve the inequities in this situation as they affected the proper functioning of the inquest.”

Among the recommendations in the report, Pullan called upon the province to conduct a comprehensive review of its policy on providing funds to families and consider transferring requests to Legal Aid Manitoba.

Wood was arrested on May 29, 2021, accused of robbing another of his sisters. He was taken to the remand centre on May 30 just before noon. While being admitted, he told facility staff he had taken “down” — a mixture of powerful synthetic opioid drugs fentanyl and carfentanyl that often contains heroin and methamphetamine — before his arrest and he expected to begin having withdrawal symptoms.

Wood vomited multiple times on June 1 and the withdrawal symptoms continued the next day. He was moved into a medical observation cell after he was found seated on the floor, complaining he had pain in his legs and couldn’t stand.

He was monitored on camera and checked intermittently on rounds, but on June 3, at 1:30 a.m., emergency medical services personnel were called when he was found unresponsive on the floor.

The inquest, which conducted hearings over 16 days in January, March and April, was told an autopsy didn’t find a cause of death, but the coroner who performed the post-mortem testified that based on other information he later received, Wood most likely died in “some sort of drug withdrawal, most probably an opioid withdrawal.”

Last year, provincial court Judge Robert Heinrichs, in his recommendations after another inquest, called for justice officials to make funding mandatory to cover the legal costs for family members of the judicial death examination’s subject.

Heinrichs said many families can’t afford lawyers, and judges have no power to order any agency to cover the cost.

In the wake of that recommendation, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said in a statement his department was looking at options to help families “meaningfully participate” in inquests, but offered no timeline for implementing a new directive.

The search is ongoing, Wiebe said in a statement Thursday.

“Our government is working to find ways we can support families to ensure they can meaningfully participate in inquest processes,” he said, echoing his previous comments on the matter.

“In addition, the health and well-being of inmates and staff at correctional facilities is a priority. I am carefully reviewing the inquest judge’s recommendations.”

In her report, Pullan said she contacted Marc Kruse, the director of Indigenous Law Learning and Services at the University of Manitoba’s law school, who agreed to represent the family, along with two third-year law students.

Pullan praised the three for their “critical role under very challenging circumstances,” adding their participation in the process should not be seen as “an adequate replacement for properly funded counsel with adequate time to prepare for an inquest.”

“I frankly don’t know how this inquest could have proceeded in a fair and appropriate fashion without their assistance,” she wrote.

Kruse said he and his students were able to tell Wood’s family what was happening during the inquest, ask questions for them and explain the medical evidence.

“That’s beyond the scope of any family,” he said. “But the main role was to make sure the family’s voice was heard. It was a great opportunity for my students, and for the law school, but it was a situation which shouldn’t have happened.”

Pullan’s other recommendations included: hiring more nurses to work at the remand centre — there were 20 vacant positions at the time of the inquest; reviewing the facility’s contract for physician service delivery to determine whether inmates receive adequate medical care; installing better cameras to monitor inmates in the medical observation cells; transferring responsibility for the centre’s medical unit from the justice department to the health department; and providing treatment to inmates dealing with opioid addiction and withdrawal.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca