Lawyer questions inquest funding for victims’ families

In unusual testimony earlier this month, a Winnipeg lawyer took the stand and criticized Manitoba Justice for its last-minute decision to deny funding for legal counsel to a family member of an Oji-Cree man who died in the Winnipeg Remand Centre after a days-long vomiting spell in 2021.

Matthew Raffey was set to represent Darren Wood’s family at the mandatory inquest into the 28-year-old’s death. Instead, Raffey was informed four business days before the proceeding was set to begin that the province would not provide any funding toward his legal fees, he said.

The province maintains a program to fund legal counsel for families participating in inquests but says it will only do so in extraordinary cases.

After the denial, Raffey, who described spending a significant amount of time preparing for the inquest and a longstanding relationship with Wood’s family, had to withdraw as their lawyer.

Instead of questioning witnesses at the inquest, Raffey was sworn in as a witness himself.

He told court Wood’s family, who are from the Island Lake region of northern Manitoba, believes systemic racism played a role in the death and that they dispute the underlying charge — an alleged robbery — behind his arrest. He said there is evidence the remand centre’s policies were not compliant with “modern medical best practice” around initiating opioid agonist therapy — the use of medications such as Suboxone to stave off cravings and withdrawal symptoms for patients addicted to opioids.

“I can, at least, make an inference that the government might not be that interested in Darren Wood’s family discovering that was a potential cause to how he died,” Raffey told provincial court Judge Heather Pullan, saying the death appeared to have been caused by “outdated policies.”

“Candidly, I don’t like that this funding decision is made by a branch of the government that could be liable for the death, depending on the facts,” he added.

Manitoba Justice is responsible for provincial corrections, including the Winnipeg Remand Centre, as well as the office that denied the family’s request.

The lawyer’s testimony comes eight months after provincial court Judge Robert Heinrichs, presiding over a different inquest, made a pointed recommendation that in future inquests, the province should provide “mandatory” funding of legal counsel for family representatives. In that inquest, which examined the deaths of Evan Caron and Adrian Lacquette, both of their families applied for funding and were denied. The two Anishinaabe men were shot by Winnipeg police officers 10 days apart in 2017.

A Free Press investigation in 2023 revealed the challenges Manitoba families — including Caron’s mother — face when in applying for this provincial funding and proceeding without a lawyer, including managing an overwhelming volume of complicated disclosure materials, appearing in case conferencing meetings and handling delays.

Last summer, in response to Heinrichs’ recommendation, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said in a statement that his department was exploring options for families to “meaningfully participate” in inquests.

To date, the government has not implemented Heinrichs’ recommendation. In an interview last week, Wiebe spoke in vague generalities and was unable to cite any specific action his government has taken to improve the inquest process since the NDP took office in October 2023.

Asked what options the government has considered to support families, Wiebe did not provide a concrete example beyond saying they are “listening to community,” including in a November meeting with a group advocating for a review of inquest legislation.

“Unfortunately at this time, I don’t have too many of the specifics to give you in terms of what the path forward will look like,” he said.

When told about the last-minute denial of funds for Darren Wood’s family, Wiebe said it lines up with other feedback his department has heard and that “there’s certainly opportunities for us to build on supports for (family members).”

“I think this is a good opportunity for us to take stock and find some of those best practices (in other provinces),” he said, but offered no timeline for action and stopped short of describing the process as a formal consultation.

“I don’t know how to characterize it, other than to say that the work is happening,” he said.

During January 2024 testimony at the inquest into her son’s death, Vivian Caron stressed the importance of having legal representation for victims’ families during inquests.

“The Crown must address barriers to families to attending these hearings, such as coming to Winnipeg and paying costs to participate, paying a hotel, paying gas, paying meals, paying parking and not earning an income because you are away from your post at work,” she told Heinrichs.

Left to represent herself after her funding request was denied, Caron said it was traumatizing to review explicit disclosure materials about her son’s death, including photos and audio of 911 calls.

“Each and every time this is visited, it reopens wounds that never seem to fade,” she told the court.

When making a funding request, families are required to write a letter to the director of Manitoba Justice’s Legal Services Branch, which “functions as the law firm to the provincial government,” a government website states. A government document explains the criteria that’s considered, including the complexity of the inquest, whether a Crown attorney can be seen to objectively protect the family’s interests and whether the family could afford to retain counsel.

In his testimony, Raffey said he eventually realized the member of Wood’s family whom he was representing spoke English as a second language and was not a confident English reader, so they worked together on the funding request and submitted a letter in October 2024.

Then, on Jan. 10, four business days before the inquest was set to begin, Legal Services Branch director Darrin Davis called him to say their request was being denied, he said.

Raffey added that other lawyers wound up having pro bono — legal counsel provided at no cost to low-income clients — availability to assist his former client during the inquest, but that access was just a matter of luck.

“I just don’t have any idea about how (the branch) made this decision,” he told the court. “We’re told to write this letter, send it off into the void. They get back to us, and say, ‘Thank you very much, no thanks.’”

The entire process, he said, seemed “nebulous” and contrary to the one used by Legal Aid to determine eligibility for clients requiring free or low-cost legal services, which includes specific household income guidelines. After the denial, Raffey said he spent eight hours with his client, pro bono, discussing what questions they might ask of witnesses at the inquest and how to review disclosure.

Speaking to the court, Raffey made several recommendations, including: that specific criteria be created for who is eligible for funding, as with Legal Aid; a formal process for appeal be created; for there to be a deadline for funding decisions to be made; and for decisions to made at “arm’s length” from Manitoba Justice.

“This system does not accommodate people who can’t pay for it,” Raffey said.

marsha.mcleod@freepress.mb.ca