THUNDER BAY — Police leaders from across the province appeared at a coroner's inquest into the deaths of two men who died in police custody to share both successes and shortcomings when dealing with addiction and mental health issues, but all agreed public intoxication should not be treated criminally.
An expert panel that included members of the Ontario Provincial Police and Guelph Police Service testified on Friday, the 12th day of the coroner’s inquest examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Don Mamakwa and Roland McKay, who both died in separate incidents after being taken into custody by the Thunder Bay Police Service for public intoxication.
Mamakwa, 44, of Kasabonika First Nation died on Aug. 3, 2014. McKay, 50, of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, died on July 19, 2017.
The panel included Insp. Stephen Gill of the Guelph Police Service, Staff Sgt. Michael Kreisz of the OPP Sioux Lookout detachment, and Insp. Jeffrey Duggan in charge of the Kenora OPP detachment.
Gill began the testimony by outlining some of the programs available to Guelph Police Service officers, including a mobile crisis team operating out of the police headquarters and trained in mental health and addiction services.
“They are the number one go to access point when dealing with individuals who have addiction issues,” Gill said. “If we have someone who is arrested and brought into the station, if that impact team is working, we have them see that individual in the cells to offer any assistance if we feel they need it.”
Guelph does not have any sobering or detox centres but an outreach van, similar to that of the former S.O.S. program operated by Shelter House Thunder Bay, does provide assistance.
According to Gill, in 2017 there were 413 arrests in Guelph for public intoxication, 295 of which ended up being locked up at the police headquarters and the remaining individuals either sent to hospital or transported to a family member or friend.
In 2021, that number dropped to 138 arrests with 71 people being placed in custody, with Gill attributing the decline to the work of the outreach van and mobile crisis team.
“I think [the number of arrests] would be a lot higher,” he said. “I am very confident in that.”
The situation in Sioux Lookout is much different. With a population of just under 6,000, Kreisz said between 2,000 and 3,000 people are placed into custody for public intoxication every year.
In 2016 alone, there were more than 3,200 liquor licence act calls for service, with 1,861 being cleared by charge and 1,166 cleared by departmental discretion.
“There was a shift in 2017 where we were no longer issuing people tickets for being intoxicated in a public space,” Kreisz said.
“We see it here as morally wrong. In my mind there is a dehumanizing aspect of putting someone in cells for being intoxicated and suffering from addiction. We do have people come to our station and turn themselves in because they are intoxicated but they have nowhere else to go. In my view that is wrong. They should have somewhere else to go.”
Being placed in police custody is often the only option, as there are few resources in Sioux Lookout, aside from an out of the cold shelter and the hospital that both have have limited capacity.
“We do have some outreach workers here in Sioux Lookout too, but if a person is too intoxicated to care for themselves, there is no place to take them,” Kreisz said.
Kenora has seen more success in dealing with issues of public intoxication and addiction due to more services available and partnerships between police and health care.
Duggan outlined the various services operating in Kenora, which includes Makwa Patrol providing care to vulnerable people in the community, a Rapid Access Addictions Medicine (RAAM) mobile service, and more recently, the opening of the Morning Star Detox Centre through the Lake of the Woods District Hospital.
“We don’t want to criminalize addiction or mental health. That is the last thing we want to do,” Duggan said. “In 2016 is when the program started. But like anything else, you have to get the proper buy in not only by the officers who are taking people to the detox centre but also the clients themselves.”
According to Duggan, when the detox centre first opened, individuals who were transported there would leave shortly after and then be picked up again by police, creating a reluctance on the part of both officers and clients to utilize the service.
“You can see as time goes on, the clients got used to it and they just stayed now,” Duggan said. “It was the actual buy in by the clients themselves.”
With Sioux Lookout and Kenora also serving several nearby First Nation communities and the majority of individuals taken into custody identifying as Indigenous, both Kreisz and Duggan said it has been crucial for the OPP to reach out to Indigenous leaders, communities, and police services.
Duggan said the Kenora OPP often work alongside Treaty Three Police in First Nation communities and officers attend Indigenous events and ceremonies in Kenora.
“I think it is crucial. Without that relationship we wouldn’t be able to do what we do,” he said. “Especially when you talk about funding and helping vulnerable populations, without that every day working relationship, it would be impossible to police where we police.”
Kreisz said the Sioux Lookout OPP also works closely with First Nation leaders and the Lac Seul Police Service.
“We are trying to find solutions that help Indigenous people,” he said. “We are primarily dealing with Indigenous population and it just makes sense to engage with our Indigenous leaders to find solutions that make sense for everyone.”
The inquest jury has already heard testimony that Mamakwa was placed under arrest because he was also found to be breaching a probation order to abstain from intoxicating substances.
When asked about placing individuals under arrest for breaching release conditions related to alcohol, Duggan said things have changed a lot in recent years and it is more situationally dependent than before.
“Are they refusing all services offered to them, are we dealing with them every day?” he said. “I don’t like to say it, but sometimes the only way to get help to people is through the court system, through court-ordered assessment or treatment or something.”
But Duggan added that the goal should be trying to get people out of cells, not into them.
“Communities need an alternative to custody for intoxicated people,” he said. “Those alternatives should have wrap around services for people so when they are ready to engage they can engage and that can potentially break the cycle. I think communities need access to that and what that looks like in each community will be different.”
