Inquest judge calls for specialized task force on drug epidemic

Manitoba needs to establish a specialized task force to deal with the fallout from the epidemic of drugs, an inquest judge said after looking into the death of a man who had swallowed a lethal quantity of drugs before being arrested and placed in police custody.

Provincial court Judge Rob Finlayson, a former senior Crown attorney, said the government needs to have experts in all fields come together to develop strategies to deal with the problems.

“A multi-level empowered task force is not only ideal, it is necessary,” the judge wrote.

He probed the circumstances of the death of James Stewart on Nov. 4, 2020.

Finlayson said that as he listened to the testimony of Stewart’s sister — who detailed how she and her two brothers were abused at times by their adoptive family, and how her brother became addicted to drugs — he was reminded of “the horrible tragedies the abuse of drugs has caused in our community.”

“Cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl separately and in total, are having a devastating impact on individuals, families and communities,” the judge said in his eight-page report. “Every day the criminal dockets are jammed with those suffering from severe addiction. The problem continues to get worse.”

He said governments cannot allow drugs to run communities.

The inquest was told Stewart had been arrested after police found crack cocaine in a truck he had been driving.

Police officers and a paramedic testified that Stewart told them he had consumed “three to four rocks of cocaine and four points of methamphetamine.” However, because he didn’t complain about being ill, it was decided it was safe to put him in a cell at downtown police headquarters.

Fifteen minutes after the assessment, the paramedic was told Stewart was having a seizure and when she rushed back to him, he was barely responsive. She started CPR on him and he was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Finlayson said the Winnipeg Police Service enacted a new policy less than a month after Stewart died. It requires officers to take a person who has ingested drugs to the hospital for an assessment.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said his department is working to address the judge’s recommendations.

“No one should lose a loved one to an overdose, and we are doing everything we can to combat the toxic drug supply on our streets,” Wiebe said.

The minister said the government launched a drug enforcement task force in February which is being advised by Kevin Brosseau, the federal government so-called fentanyl czar. A federal government website says Brosseau, a former RCMP officer, works with his U.S. counterparts, as well as law enforcement and public health agencies, to help “detect, disrupt and dismantle the fentanyl trade.”

“Manitobans have been clear that the meth crisis needs to end and this task force will provide Manitoba access to the best minds and practices in Canada for fighting back against the meth crisis and those who profit off of it.”

Tory justice critic Wayne Balcaen said he believes the judge recommended more than the current task force which is mainly made up of members of various police agencies across the province.

“He is actually calling on the government, because he is seeing their failures, and what he is saying is it is time to get a different committee together, one that is empowered, one that looks at these issues, and can help solve them rather than making things worse,” Balcaen said.

“There are so many fields we need to tap into, mental health, addictions, homelessness housing… this judge is being pretty clear and pretty adamant.”

The judge noted the Stewart family had failed to convince the government to pay for a lawyer to represent them at the inquest. He said “some greater latitude” should be made by the government because the role of the inquest counsel “is not to advocate on behalf of the Stewart family.”

Wiebe said he has “instructed my department to look into ways to make the inquest process more accessible and less costly for families of the subjects of the inquiries.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca