Judge advises province to cover lawyer costs for families of deceased in inquests – Winnipeg Free Press

The county’s chief coroner called the investigation in April 2018. Joint investigations can be held if the facts or circumstances are “sufficiently similar,” Heinrichs noted, and he recommended that in the future, joint investigations only be held if the deaths occurred in the same incident.

The personal lives and circumstances of the deaths were not identical and should be given their own respect, in part to ensure the dignity of families, he said, quoting Caron’s mother.

The trial was delayed several times, in part because of backlogs related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which frustrated Caron’s already struggling mother. She felt the court was not communicating with her about the matter, she told the Free press earlier.

Vivian Caron was authorized to participate in the investigation and asked questions to the witnesses.

In the case of Lacquette, police officers were called to a home on Pritchard Avenue on September 12, 2017, following reports of a fight involving a man with a gun.

He had been drinking and using cocaine and had beaten his sister. Lacquette then left the home, forced a woman from her vehicle and robbed a beer vendor before police finally caught up with him and the stolen SUV on Alfred Avenue shortly after 1 a.m. on Sept. 13.

Lacquette held a sawed-off firearm that resembled an antique pistol to his head and looked at him with a crazed expression. He told police to shoot him and threatened to shoot a police dog if it came near him as he was ordered to drop the weapon.

He raised the gun toward police and led two officers, Det. Sgt. Jonathan Young and Const. Jeffrey Conrad, to open fire, the inquest heard. The officers administered first aid, but Lacquette was pronounced dead a short time later at the Health Sciences Centre.

Heinrichs lamented that the investigation learned little about who Lacquette was before his death. He noted that his mother, Joanne Malcolm, had attended meetings prior to the investigation but had not shown up.

“Unfortunately, her lack of involvement may ultimately have been a result of the lengthy delays in this investigation or her inability to find legal counsel to represent the family,” he wrote.

In the case of Evan Caron, Vivian Caron called police to report that her son had used methamphetamine and was pacing around in a paranoid and agitated state with knives in his hands on the afternoon of September 23, 2017. Other 911 calls reported that he had attacked his brother.

Sergeant Tyler Everett Loewen kicked in the door of Vivian Caron’s home on Madrigal Close in the Maples and heard screams coming from inside. Officers went to the scene, suspecting a murder was in progress.

Evan Caron thrust the blade of a knife at Loewen, whose momentum carried him into the home’s hallway. The officer turned and shot him six times, stabbing him in the shoulder.

Caron was pronounced dead at 4:43 p.m.

Vivian Caron described Evan, her firstborn son, as a “brilliant person” and a fine artist and athlete who will be greatly missed.

She said he became addicted to methamphetamine after he was displaced by the Fairford River flooding in 2011, forcing him to leave his First Nation home.

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