Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto (ALST) has formally withdrawn from the inquest into the death of Brian Sinclair. ALST is one of three Aboriginal interested parties with standing at the inquest. Recently, the Court decided to narrow the mandate of the inquest and will no longer be addressing issues that ALST believes are important to learning about and preventing future, similar deaths. As Phase II of the inquest begins, ALST heavy heartedly walks away from the inquest because the value of staying in a process that will not address the very reasons they sought standing for, is not enough.

Brian Sinclair was an Aboriginal man. He was a double amputee who sat in his wheel chair for 34 hours in the emergency department of the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre (WHSC) in September 2008, slowly dying a preventable death. Mr. Sinclair was assumed by some hospital staff to be homeless and potentially under the influence of alcohol. 

The only toxins in his body at the time of his death were produced from a bladder infection. The infection had progressed to a point where his body began to shut down. When Mr. Sinclair arrived at WHSC, his name was scratched onto a piece of paper and he was never properly triaged. As he sat waiting no staff ever checked his vitals and numerous staff walked right past Mr. Sinclair. Despite his worsening condition he was never attended to.

An inquest was called into Mr. Sinclair’s death. His family and Aboriginal organizations called for a Public inquiry because inquiries can look more broadly into systemic issues. Manitoba’s Health Minister, Andrew Swan, dismissed the need for a Public inquiry in February 2010, citing that the inquest would have a broad mandate to address the systemic issues raised by the Aboriginal parties.

An inquest is a legal process that looks at death with a mind to making recommendations so that preventable deaths are avoided in the future without placing blame on any individual or party. Given the context of this case, an inquest may seem like the ideal forum but for the fact that it will now not address issues that Aboriginal parties with standing want to raise.

In a ruling on January 10, 2014, the Court stated that it “is clear that incorrect assumptions were made about Brian Sinclair by a number of frontline staff.” Although this was acknowledged by the Court, it was decided that race, poverty, disability, and substance abuse are beyond the scope of the inquest. The Court also decided that only two of the eleven witnesses being called in Phase II to address systemic issues, will be independent and non-employees of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

The recent revelation that potentially discriminatory practices will not be considered by the inquest has under-resourced Aboriginal parties, including ALST, withdrawing from the inquest. Their expertise and potential contribution in this inquest are now effectively diminished.

The Sinclair inquest was seen as an opportunity to address the combined systemic issues and false assumptions that led to Brian Sinclair’s death. It can be argued that inquest processes are inadequate to address systemic concerns. In relation to this death, if an inquiry was not called because it was decided that the inquest would be able address the issues, why is it that so late in the process it has been determined that the mandate is only broad enough to deal with patient flow and best practices absent evidence explaining the discrimination of Aboriginal people in the health care system?

Making recommendations to increase equal access to health care for a growing, urban Aboriginal population and First Nation people from remote communities who rely on health services in Winnipeg cannot be fully formulated when only a narrow glimpse of system problems will be addressed. The only individual who did not flow through the emergency room on the day in question was an Aboriginal man, where false assumptions about him were knowingly made. So why is patient flow the paramount issue moving forward in this inquest?

Despite formally withdrawing from the inquest process today, ALST will continue to seek truth though other opportunities, where communities come together to listen to what all Canadians should care about: community wellness and equal access to health care for every person.

Christa Big Canoe is the Legal Advocacy Director, Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto