Inquest still pending 7 years after man shot, killed by Winnipeg police

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This article was published 22/09/2015 (4029 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Seven years after Craig McDougall was shot and killed by Winnipeg police, a judge has made a ruling about a pending inquest into his death.

A judge has ruled Crown attorneys can serve as inquest counsel with no perception of bias, despite a motion arguing otherwise by lawyers for McDougall’s family.

Judge Anne Krahn gave the lawyers notice she had decided against a motion arguing Crown attorneys should not serve as inquest counsel because of their perceived “collegial relationship” with police. The reasons for the judge’s decision, however, are reserved until mid-October.

McDougall, 26, died Aug. 2, 2008. He was shot four times by two police officers who were called to a disturbance at McDougall’s home on Simcoe Street. Police said McDougall had a knife and refused repeated demands to drop it. But witnesses said he only had a cellphone in his hand. An investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police deemed the shooting justified, and the inquest was called two years ago but has yet to be scheduled in court.

Corey Shefman, a lawyer for the McDougall family, said he may appeal the judge’s decision, especially in light of Sunday’s fatal police shooting of Haki Sefa, for which a mandatory inquest will be called.

“This question of a Crown attorney serving as inquest counsel is going to come up again. We really are disappointed in the court’s decision. Of course we respect it, but we reserve the right to appeal it because we really do think that it’s problematic for a Crown attorney to be leading an inquest which involves a police shooting,” Shefman said.

Lawyers for McDougall’s family also want the court to release secret external reports they believe the Winnipeg Police Service received from the Ontario Provincial Police after McDougall’s death, and they want to ensure the inquest will consider systemic racism in how indigenous communities are policed.

“We’re hoping to address them in a way that doesn’t delay the inquest,” Shefman said.

A date for the inquest hasn’t been set, but it won’t get started until next year.

Katie.may@freepress.mb.ca